At Death's Door
by Giada Luna
Summary: Death is all-knowing, and yet Sasuke has no idea how a mortal found her way into his home. Sakura doesn't know how she got here, or where 'here' is, but she isn't going to let a little thing like Death stop her from finding out. SasuSaku. NaruHina. NejiTen.
1. An Uninvited Guest

_Been sitting on this one for a while, but I need a dose of happy. Plus, writing snarky Sasuke always makes me happy. parts 1-14 done; not a terribly long story._

* * *

 **At Death's Door  
** **1\. An Unexpected Guest**

* * *

Death has heard some strange things in his time.

The last thoughts of the Dead are unpredictable and varied, ranging from the inane to the profound, and the simple to the complex.

Of course, there are always the mundane thoughts.

 _"Why me?"_

 _"What now?"_

 _"Is it really over?"_

Those are to be expected.

Sometimes the person is lucky enough to die in their sleep, so essentially they 'wake up' dead.

They usually ask what is for breakfast. (He suspects that is a fear reflex.)

There are those that die in fear, or trauma - and their last words are usually screams.

He does his best to calm them.

Then there are the some more amusing ones.

For instance, this week there was the man who had come in from doing sweaty work outside, and grabbed the large liter bottle of water and chugged it without thinking. Unfortunately, his wife had mixed up some cleaning solution in one of the empty bottles, had left it on the counter while she went to check the mail.

His last thought was: "Well, fuck me."

Macabre, but amusing, if you are Death.

The old woman who died in her sleep took comfort knowing she had put on clean underwear - something he had heard more than once, and he wondered why mortals thought Death cared about such things.

The best this week, hands down, was the man whose last thought was: "I knew it. I always knew my goldfish would get me in the end."

That was up until a moment ago.

He had been walking down the corridor in his own home when he heard a perplexed:

"Where am I?"

He turns in shock - for who could and would drop in at Death's door, uninvited? - and there stands a shimmering image of a young woman.

Her skin is porcelain pale, her hair pink, and her eyes emerald green.

And he is just as perplexed as she looks.

"What are you doing here?" he demands.

She blinks those great, green eyes at him.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she shrugs. "I don't even know where 'here' is."

He glares at her, wondering where she could have possibly come from. He considers the translucent edges of her aura; she is not entirely insubstantial.

She looks as though she would be warm to the touch.

He frowns and speaks sharply.

"I don't know what you're doing here," he draws back, "but you are an intruder in my home. Leave."

"You seem to be forgetting the part where I just told you I don't know where I am," she returns with a barbed patience, "let alone how I got here; how on earth do you expect me to go back to... wherever it is I was... which I just realized I don't remember," she finishes in a puzzled huff.

At least that isn't so unusual. The dead often do not remember dying, or even realize that they are, in fact, dead.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"What is this place?" she counters.

" _What do you remember?_ "

She gives him a hard look before blowing out a sigh. "I don't know," she admits. "I was...working? Yes. Working. It was a long night, I was working. I was at the lab...then..." her brows draw together as she tries to think.

"Then?" he prompts.

She shakes her head. "Then...nothing. I don't remember anything after that."

"So you are a scientist?"

"Doctor, actually," she corrects him. "Medical Researcher II if you want to get technical."

He arches one, slim, ebony brow.

"Sounds like a scientist to me."

"Scientist that got through medical school, thankyouverymuch," she retorts.

"And your name?"

"Sakura," she answers simply. "Dr. Haruno Sakura. And yours?"

He gives her a small smirk.

"I am the Dark Guardian," his obsidian eyes gleam. "You know me as Death..." he watches her eyes grow wide.

"...but you can call me Sasuke."

* * *

 _Yes a Death/Sakura AU, no, not a typical mythology AU._


	2. Many Happy Returns

**At Death's Door  
** **2\. Many Happy Returns**

* * *

She returns periodically and always without preamble.

He has started extending his perception around corners, because he never knows when or where he'll run into her.

Today she is in the library, and is either oblivious to or is unfazed by his concentration on his work.

"What are you doing?"

"Culling souls," he doesn't look up as he turns a page. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like ninth grade geometry homework," she wrinkles her nose in distaste. "Either that or amateur alchemy."

"Why are you here...?"

"Sakura," she supplies. "And I thought 'Death' knew everything," she tags on defensively. "Why don't you know who I am and why don't you know how or why I got here?"

"I don't know," he returns as calmly as he is able, flicking a page in frustration.

Her eyes widen.

"That is what you are doing, isn't it?" she asks. "You're trying to figure out that out!"

"It is possible. But unlikely."

He can't see her smug smile, but he doesn't really need to.

"Now," he tilts his chin up ever so slightly. "If I could get back to work in peace?"

She plops herself down in the seat next to him. "At least let me help," she motions to the stack of books at his elbow.

He looks at her; clearly she is not leaving.

"Fine," he hands her a book with a sigh.

She settles into her work, soon losing herself in the pages as she absorbs whatever information she can.

He gets back to work, and pretends it isn't a bit less lonely when she is around.


	3. Curiouser and Curiouser

_Explanations of a sort_

* * *

 **At Death's Door  
3\. Curiouser, and curiouser.**

* * *

"Why do I never see anyone here?"

Her question comes like most of her questions – out of the blue and with the tilt of her head and a strangely insightful and curious look.

"Who were you expecting to see?"

"I don't know. Other souls? A big three-headed dog? A girl with a thing for pomegranates?"

"Myths. And I do not keep the souls here. I simply help them pass on."

"Pass on to where?"

"You ask too many questions."

"I'm just trying to understand," she crosses her arms. "I've never been near Death with a capital 'D' before. Who wouldn't have questions?"

"Hn," is his only answer.

"You called yourself the "Dark Guardian," she prompts. "What does that mean?"

He surprises them both by answering.

"The River of Life flows through all realms, connecting them. The Light Guardian allows souls to pass from the River into a realm, and the Dark Guardian allows them to exit the realm and re-enter the River." He shrugs. "Simple."

"So… you're Charon?"

"Another myth," he snorts. "But closer to the truth."

"So you are more like an after-lifeguard?"

Sasuke frowns because her analogy might be inelegant, but is not wholly inaccurate.

"Okay, there are other realms," she continues. "And if we return to this river of souls, we, what? Keep moving on to the next realm and getting reborn downstream?"

"Not every soul enters every realm," he allows "but that is the idea, yes."

"And how long do we stay in this river?"

"As long as your soul exists."

"So why aren't you in the river?" she frowns. "What does that make this place? And if there are other realms, are there other Guardians?"

"My people have always been Guardians, and yes, there are others."

"Huh," she muses. "So we aren't on the same team."

He arches an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?"

"I spend my career saving lives. You end them."

"They end," he corrects her. "I simply collect and return them."

"Still," she quirks a smile. "You're the competition."

"You are not competition to me," his smirk is sure. "No one cheats Death - not really."

"Then why am I here?" she challenges him - she is _always challenging him_ \- with a teasing smile on her lips, but a competitive glint in her eyes. "Maybe I found a way to cheat the system. Maybe you met your match."

"I doubt that. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do."

"We'll see, Sasuke!" she calls after him.

He smiles to himself – but only because he knows she can't see.


	4. The Challenger

_welcome back, friends!_

* * *

 **At Death's Door  
4\. The Challenger**

* * *

He finds her in his kitchen, poking around in the refrigerator.

"Stop rearranging everything," he demands, hands on hips.

"Rearranging?" she asks, looking at him In confusion. "I haven't moved anything. I just wondered what Death keeps in his freezer."

"I don't have a freezer," he narrows his eyes. "I don't even have a kitchen."

Sakura looks around the room, her hand still on the open door handle. "You sure?" she asks. "Because this looks an awful lot like a kitchen to me."

"This wasn't here yesterday," he crosses his arms. "Stop rearranging my home."

"Wait…" she stops, closing the fridge. "You're saying I somehow made this appear? Because I was looking for a kitchen?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," he glowers at her. "Stop it."

"Huh," she looks around with a new appreciation. "Well that makes sense. I was surprised that you had such good taste!" Her eyes light up. "I wonder what else is in your house! Oh!" she claps, "I bet you have a game room! I am so going to kick your ass at something!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke calls after her sharply, but it is too late. She is gone, and her laughter is echoing behind her.

"Sasuke!" her voice rings from a direction in which he previously had no other rooms. "Hurry up! The game is loading!"

He smothers a sigh and if for no other reason than intellectual curiosity (perhaps these things will help him understand who she is and where she came from and why she is here and how to get her home because she is annoying) he follows after her.

He stops in the doorway and grimaces at the huge flat-screen, the comfy couch, the snacks, and the insane gaming system.

She leans over the back of the couch to hand him a controller.

"No."

"Why not?" she ignores his flat refusal, opening her eyes to an impossibly wide and innocent width, the controller dangling between her fingers. "Scared a little mortal is going to kick your eternal ass?"

"Sakura," he can feel the ache in his jaw from clenched teeth.

"I mean, no one lives forever, so you're going to win in the end, right? Can't handle a little defeat until then?"

She blinks those great eyes at him and he has no idea why he is even entertaining the notion. He is at a loss to explain how he gets to the couch next to her, and can only assume it is some kind of witch craft.

Nothing can prepare him for the intensity with which she does battle, and he finds himself drawn more and more into the game.

"What is this hellish thing?" he asks, brows furrowed in concentration.

"Mario Kart," she knocks into his character. "And you're losing."

"You are cheating."

"I thought I couldn't cheat death," she taunts.

"You threw a banana peel at me!"

"And?"

"That is cheating!"

"Crybaby."

"What did you just-?!"

But his protest is lost as her character crosses the finish line she jumps up to punch the air in victory.

"See that?" she jerks a thumb at the screen.. "That was me. Kicking. Your. Ass."

He glowers at her, and sets his jaw in determination.

"Again," he demands, adjusting to lean forward in his seat and grip the controller more firmly. "Face me again."

"Are you going to cry about it this time?"

"Sakura," he warns, but she laughs.

"Alright, Sasuke." She guides them through the screens, and slides him a glance as the game is starting. "Just do me a favor and try and keep up this time."


	5. Unexpected

_What, you didn't expect me to leave out a twist, did you?_

* * *

 **At Death's Door**  
 **5\. Unexpected**

* * *

She is around more often then she is not, and he finds he forgets to look for a reason.

Until the day she is standing in front of a fireplace (which hadn't been there yesterday) with her hands stretched toward the flames.

He arches an eyebrow at her and her latest augmentation to his home.

"I'm cold today," she wraps her arms around herself.

"Cold?"

"Yes," she gives a small laugh. "Weird, right?"

But she notices the small crease between his eyebrows.

"Sasuke? What is it?"

"Where do you go when you aren't here?"

She blinks twice at the question before shrugging.

"Not sure," she admits. "I just sort of fade and go somewhere else, but I don't remember anything about it when I come back here.

She watches him arrive at some decision.

"Come. We have someone to see."

"Can't I stay by the fire?" She asks hopefully. "It is warm here."

He removes a cloak from a peg on the wall and drapes it over her shoulders.

"Soft," she nuzzles into the fur.

"Manticor."

"Really?" her eyes are wide.

"No," he clasps it at her throat. "Their fur makes terrible cloaks. Too rough."

She narrows her eyes at him.

"You are teasing me."

The tilt of his lips might be playful.

"Never."


	6. Sunshine

**At Death's Door  
6\. Sunshine**

* * *

The man that opens the door blinks twice, incredulity painted in broad strokes across a friendly face and infinitely sincere blue eyes.

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be, dobe," he scoffs.

"What's going on?" he looks him up and down. "You come here, well, never? What happened?" he grins cheekily. "Someone die?"

Sasuke ignores the obvious joke (because the idiot has about a million on the theme).

"I have a problem."

"Hey," she pops her head around him, ignoring his scowl. "I'm not a 'problem.'"

Blue eyes spark with amusement.

"Don't mind him. His manners have always been shit. I'm Naruto," he holds out a hand. "And you are?"

"Sakura," she steps around Sasuke to shake Naruto's hand. "You're warm," she gasps in surprise.

"Yeah, well," he rubs the back of his neck. "Kinda comes with the territory. We can't all be tall, dark, and brooding, you know."

"You must be the Light Guardian," she reasons.

"Hey, yeah!" he grins. "Wow," he looks over to Sasuke. "Smart and nice? Why is she hanging out with you?"

"She just showed up," Sasuke grumbles, earning an eye roll from Sakura, and a sharp look from Naruto.

"Is that a fact," he holds Sasuke's gaze for a second longer before considering Sakura again. Surprise suddenly overtakes his features.

"I remember you," he blurts.

"I get that a lot," she sighs. "It's the hair, isn't it?"

"Yeah, the hair," he laughs, "That must be it."

But Sasuke knows it is something else, even if he doesn't know what that something might be.

"So," Naruto stands a little straighter. "What's the problem?"

"I just sort of showed up here one day," Sakura fiddles with the clasp of the cape. "I don't know much about where I came from, and I don't know where I go when I leave here."

An unexpected intelligence flickers behind Naruto's eyes. "You came her under your own power?"

"I guess so?" she shrugs. "I don't know how I get here or why I leave. It's not really a decision."

"Huh," Naruto slides a glance to Sasuke. "You have any guesses?"

"No," Sakura answers for him. "He's stumped. And the weird thing is today I am cold."

Naruto eyes the cape around her shoulders with a frown. He flicks a glance to Sasuke who gives an imperceptible nod.

Taking both of her small hands into his own, Naruto envelops them both in a warm, orange glow.

She gives a happy sigh.

"That's better."

"Good," he squeezes her hands. "But where are my manners? Come inside and have something to drink."

He settles Sakura in his kitchen - which was there before she arrived - and once she is settled, he makes some excuse to take Sasuke to the side to speak.

"I don't have any answers for you," he admits, glancing over his shoulder. "Why haven't you asked any of the Shepherds? Or the Hunters?"

"I don't have time to waste with them," Sasuke scoffs.

"You could've asked the Gatekeeper," Naruto crosses his arms. "You know she will help if she can." When Sasuke makes another dismissive gesture, Naruto narrows his eyes at him. "She's disappearing from somewhere, so someone could be missing her. Someone else might be looking for her already, Sasuke," his voice is serious. "Have you thought about that?"

Sasuke holds his gaze a little longer before exhaling a reluctant sigh.

He hadn't actually.

"I will see what the Gatekeeper has to say. If she thinks it is wise, I will consult with the others."

Naruto gives a short nod, and they return to the kitchen and Sakura.

But she is gone.

Sasuke picks up the cloak and turns it over in his hands, an unidentifiable expression hovering on his face.

"Here," he hands it to Naruto. "Bring it with you when you go to her. See what she can find."

He ignores the familiar feeling of Naruto's eyes on his back as he walks out of the door and heads for home.

It is harder to ignore the pinpoints of trepidation prickling under his skin.


	7. More Questions Than Answers

**At Death's Doo** **r  
7\. More Questions Than Answers**

* * *

"What do you remember about your life?"

She looks up from her book, curious.

"Nearly everything, I suppose."

When he raises his eyebrows, she elaborates.

"My parents were military so we moved around a lot. I'm an only kid and always wanted to be a doctor but never lived anywhere long enough to make friends. I spent most of my time alone and studying. I didn't really have any consistent friends until University and then Med School. Why?"

He studies her.

"Could someone be looking for you?"

She purses her lips. "I...I'm not sure. I can't remember much before I arrived here the first time, and never remember anything after I leave here. Maybe I'm not really gone to them - time is different here, isn't it?"

He inclines his head.

"I lost touch with most of my friends," she admits ruefully. "My mentor still checked on me, but I was deep into research at my new job under Chiyo."

"Your parents?"

"We go months without being in touch," she sighs. "If I really am missing back home, it is a very real possibility that they don't know it yet. But maybe when I leave here, I just wake up wherever I am and go to work. Maybe this is some weird kind of dream travel."

"Unlikely," Sasuke shakes his head. "But there is no one else?" he presses. "Perhaps if we can track someone else in your life, we can make some connections about where you belong."

"I work insanely long hours, and usually by myself," she explains. "I have seen my neighbors maybe twice in the three years I've lived in my apartment. I don't have any pets. I leave the apartment complex early and come back late, and am at the lab at all hours - sometimes without seeing a single person. I was working with some nasty samples - poisons and the like - so not many people had access to my lab."

"If you are always at work, shouldn't they notice if you aren't there?"

"They might notice if I am not at work, but I was about to go on vacation for a couple of weeks. If something happened to me after work, they might just think I am away. How much time has passed since I started showing up here?"

"Unfortunately, that isn't relevant," he grimaces. "As you noticed, time is different here - and there is no way of guessing how the time here relates to the time it is wherever you go."

"So it is possible that any of the people that might look for me, won't even think to start looking for me," she concluded.

"There is no one else?" he watches her carefully. "No husband or lover?"

"You sure you haven't met my mom?" she arches one eyebrow. "Because that sounds a lot like what she asks me all the time - except she knows I don't have a husband and is hopeful for a boyfriend.'"

"And what is your response?"

"The last relationship I had ended rather spectacularly, and I've not had the time, inclination, or motivation to start another one. I can guarantee that person isn't looking for me."

"But can you be sure?"

"Well, considering the last time I saw him, he was screwing his neighbor after complaining about how I never made time for him? And that is when I found out he had been dating her on the side for about a year - and she in turn had never heard about me? Yeah, his night got a lot uglier after that, so I'm thinking he definitely isn't looking for me, and hasn't been for a couple of years now."

He tells himself that he is pleased to have a variable stricken from the list, even as he takes note of the few names she does provide him. It isn't much to go on, but it is, at least, something.

He notices that she has been sitting very still, as if focusing on a sound just out of ear's reach.

"Sakura?"

She blinks owlishly, shifting her face toward him before her eyes follow suit. For a second something glimmers in their emerald depths but it fades again just as quickly.

"Sakura?" his voice is low and gentle. "What is it."

"I..." her eyes search his, her pink brows drawn together. "I...sorry," she gives herself a little shake. "I don't know what that was."

He notices her shaking ever so slightly, and she looks wearier than she had a moment ago. Her book sits open in her lap.

He gently closes the book before placing it on the coffee table.

"Rest. I shall keep watch."

She nods dumbly, and pulls the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

"Thanks for letting me stay," she curls into the corner of the couch. "And for staying with me."

She drifts to sleep.

Carefully, he adjusts the blanket to better cover her.

He gently brushes a long, lose strand of hair away from her face before thumbing over her cheek.

"You are welcome, Sakura."


	8. Moonlight

_Sorry, friends - couldn't get online before now. Insane day. xoxo- Giada_

* * *

 **At Death's Door  
8\. Moonlight**

* * *

What Sasuke told Sakura is true - he and Naruto are responsible for guiding the souls that cross into their realm into and out of the River of Life, depending on what their journey requires.

What he hadn't mentioned is that the River isn't the only way souls can enter or exit a realm.

Souls can become lost, or drift.

It is the job of the Shepherds to find and retrieve any lost souls. While Shepherds can cross realms, they usually operate in only one or two of them, maintaining the borders.

The Gatekeeper (often a Shepherd, but not always) monitors the gate that connects the realm to the others, and can return any found souls to the correct realm, bypassing the River.

Sasuke does not need to worry about making himself available to her.

While the quiet Gatekeeper does not usually solicit his company, she can find him unerringly.

She arrives with the unobtrusive grace of a moonbeam, and he is alone.

"Hinata," he acknowledges her. "It is good of you to come."

"It is my pleasure," she bows her head politely. "How can I be of help?"

"Did Naruto explain to you?"

"A little," she admits. "But he said I needed to hear everything from you."

So Sasuke explains about his peculiar, uninvited guest, and her unpredictable arrivals and departures. Hinata listens, and he knows that beyond her placid expression, a quick mind is digesting everything he tells her.

"This..." she pauses eyebrows lifted in question.

"Sakura," he supplies, her name warm and familiar on his tongue.

"Sakura," she repeats. "Sakura appears in your home, apparently having crossed into the realm, but neither you nor Naruto brought her."

"I do not know what borders she is crossing," he frowns. "I do not know where she goes when she is not here - but I cannot sense her when she leaves."

"That would seem to indicate she is crossing realms," Hinata reasons. "If she was slipping into the realm you and Naruto monitor, you'd be able to sense her there - the same thing applies if she was crossing in and out of the River."

"And she isn't crossing through the Gate," Sasuke adds, "or you would know of her."

She nods.

"So where does that leave us?"

"She must be in transition," she muses. "Between worlds. But for her to have crossed under her own power," she shakes her head. "That is something..." she searches for the word

"Impossible?"

"Special," she corrects. She hands him back the cloak Naruto had given her. "I asked a friend to try and track her. Perhaps if we can figure out where she is going, we can better understand how she is getting here."

Sasuke accepts the cloak and drapes it over his arm.

"Have you seen anything?"

"No," she shakes her head. "But I shall keep watch. Summon me when she next arrives."

Sasuke nods - he has no love for the Shepherds or the Hunters, but he respects the Gatekeeper.

She considers him a moment, clearly weighing her words.

"I asked Shino for help," she begins. "But I suspect I will need to reach out to Kiba. Perhaps you should consider consulting our other resources across the border."

"You mean my brother," he crosses his arms.

"And my cousin," she adds. "But I shall not reach out without your permission."

He sighs his reluctance.

"I shall consider it."

"No need," a familiar voice offers.

Sasuke turns slowly to look into the eyes of his older brother.

"Itachi."

"Uchiha-san," Hinata's eyes widen as she looks between the two brothers, an apology blossoming on her lips. "Sasuke, I-"

"It's alright, Hinata" Sasuke tells her, just managing to both muster what little assurance he can into his voice, and to keep from ranking his hand down his face. "I am sure my brother's being here is entirely of his own doing."

"He is right," Itachi gives her a patient smile. "I had already decided to pay a visit to my younger brother when I heard about his current... situation."

"Then," she darts looks between them before bowing her head respectfully. "I shall take my leave of you."

She is gone before either can thank her, and the brothers are left sizing one another up - Sasuke's curiosity far more cautious than Itachi's.

"Well, then," Itachi motions to Sasuke's home. "Why don't you fill me in on your problem, Little Brother."

There is a sincerity in his eyes that belies his playful tone - and it is the only thing that keeps Sasuke from sighing or muttering something sarcastic. If Itachi has come, it is of his own will, and it is for a good reason.

Itachi stops and looks around the large hearth room with the crackling fire and the worn books waiting to be read.

"My, my," he slides a look to his brother. "Been busy I see."

This time Sauske does rake a hand down his face.

"You have no idea."


	9. Adapting

**At Death's Door  
9\. Adapting**

* * *

The next time she returns, he summons Hinata.

Saukra smiles at the gentle woman and is, as always, full of questions.

"So there are others like you?" her eyes are bright as she sits cross-legged on the couch. Her hands are wrapped around a warm mug of tea that Sasuke prepared at Hinata's urging.

"I am from a large clan," she allows, curling her legs under her as she sits on the other end. "Our job is to find watch over any souls that might go astray."

"But there is a gate that can go to other realms, and you guard that. And Sasuke's family are Guardians in other realms, just like your family are Shepherds and Gate keepers."

"That is about right."

"And _then,"_ Sakura tucks a long strand of hair behind her ears, "while Shepherds generally stick to a territory, there are Hunters that can go across realms looking for different souls. And you and some of your friends are trying to figure out how and why I keep showing up here, is that it?"

"I knew you were smart," Naruto chuckles as he entered the room. "Didn't I tell you she is smart?" he asks Hinata.

"You did," she smiles pleasantly as he sits in a comfortable chair opposite the couch.

"Love what you've done with the place," Naruto looks around the room. "Way better than the 'I hate everyone' vibe Teme was going for."

Sakura laughs as she sets her tea to the side. "It started out as an accident," she admits, "but now it seems like things change even before I think about changing them."

"It's annoying," Sasuke intones, replacing her empty mug with a full one. "I never know where anything will be."

"Where's your sense of adventure?" she teases him, eyes alight.

"Probably with everything else you misplaced."

Naruto and Hinata exchange a knowing glance that goes unnoticed by the other two. Later that night, when they are a tangle of limbs and he is idly tracing patterns on her skin, Naruto gives voice to his thoughts.

"What do you think about them?"

She worries her lip as she considers her answer.

"I think that they are connected," she ventures, "but I can not say to what extent."

"She is changing his home without even trying," Naruto half snorts. "I'd say it's to a pretty good extent."

Hinata hums her agreement.

"Have you asked the others for help?"

"Not yet. He wants to wait and see what Shino and Kiba turn up."

"What about Itachi and his Hunters?"

Hinata gives a small shrug. "I haven't heard."

Naruto lapses into silence but Hinata knows better than to think he has fallen asleep. Instead, she listens to the lull of his heartbeat while he gathers his thoughts.

Just before she drifts off, he murmurs into her hair:

"It has been good to see him happy. I hope she will stay."

Her eyelids are heavy, but she uses her last wisps of consciousness to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw and whisper, in all sincerity, "Me, too."


	10. Precious

**At Death's Door  
10\. Undetermined**

* * *

He confesses that the gardens had been planted by his mother when she still lived in this realm. He inherited his position here through her and her family - his older brother inherited through their father.

Sakura takes in the lilies and roses and climbing vines and trees, and thinks it is perfect.

He smiles when she tells him as much - at least he smiles as much as he ever does.

"I like gardens," she sits on a bench in the sunshine. "Something about them is rejuvenating." She looks around, hesitating to ask the question. "Your Mother. Is she?"

"She is a Guardian of another realm, with my Father."

"And your brother is one as well, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you ever visit?"

"Occasionally," he shrugs.

"I wonder if I ever visit," she chuckles. When he looks at her strangely, she grins cheekily. "What? I don't know where I go when I leave here; for all I know I am visiting all of your relatives."

"You're not," he mutters.

"I might be," she nudges him.

"You would be most welcome, if you were to visit," Itachi appears in front of them, "but sadly, my brother is right. We have not had the pleasure of an introduction."

Sakura's initial surprise melts into delight.

"Itachi, I take it?"

"And you must be Sakura."

"Pleased to meet you," she glances behind him. "Who are your friends?"

Itachi's expression doesn't change, but Sasuke wonders what these escorts mean.

"My cousin Shisui, and my Chief Hunter, Hana," he indicates the other two.

They both bow politely to her.

"Sorry to arrive unannounced," Itachi's faint smile is weary but kind, "but I wanted to speak with you both."

"How did you know I was here?" Sakura blinks. "I didn't think anyone could track where I was."

There might have been a scoffing sound from one of Itachi's party, or she might have imagined it - she isn't sure.

"Why don't we discuss it inside," Itachi nods back toward his brother's home.

"Sakura," Sasuke turns toward her. "Would you take Captain Inuzuka and my cousin inside? I'm sure they'd like to take a moment to wash up from their journey."

"Of course," she smiles, and leads the way.

Itachi hangs back, amused.

"I take it you haven't explained that the 'journey' here took mere seconds."

"Why are you here," his brother turns, the small crease reappearing between his eyebrows. "And what do you mean by bringing those two?"

"You mean my most trusted friends, aside from my brother?" Itachi arches an eyebrow. "Are you offended, Sasuke?"

"You left your realm _without_ your two most trusted people," Sasuke counters. "Why?"

"Shisui thinks he picked up on a trail, and Hana says she can follow it. They have to be here when she disappears, or it won't work."

Sasuke meets his eyes steadily.

"And why are you helping her?"

"It is our job, Little Brother," Itachi shrugs. "She is a displaced soul."

Shisui flickers in front of them, his eyes spinning in red and black.

"Come now," is all he needs to say.

In less than a second, the three of them are at Sakura's side, and she is shivering in a blanket, while being held on the couch by Hana. The Captain is surprisingly gentle with the girl as she rubs wide circles on her back.

She looks up, dazed.

"Sasuke?" she holds her hands out to him, and he is startled to realize they are beginning to fade.

Without a word, he takes them and kneels in front of her, to better meet her eyes.

"What is happening?"

"I don't know," she chatters. "It is different than last time. Usually I just... go. But something is wrong - this is different."

She slumps forward, all color draining from her skin.

Effortlessly, he scoops her up, and cradles her in his arms.

"You can wait it out in your room," he strides down the hall.

She looks up at him confused.

"I have a room? Since when?"

He gives a half shrug, but does not answer.

"Huh," she rests her head against his shoulder. "I don't remember doing that."

He doesn't comment.

Because then he'd have to admit that he doesn't know when it happened,

but she didn't create her room.

He did.

And that isn't something he knows how to process any more than he knows how to face how she is melding into his life.


	11. Leap of Faith

**At Death's Door  
11\. Leap of Faith**

* * *

She has been gone for days.

As soon as she disappeared, Shisui and Hana followed after her; Shisui has traveled back several times to report to Itachi, but Hana won't leave the trail.

Sasuke isn't in a pleasant mood.

His home is redolent with her presence, even in the rooms she did not change. He finds himself looking in his refrigerator for no reason - such a mortal thing to do - and checking to make sure there are logs for the fire.

Naruto is only surprised he hasn't shown up sooner.

"How do you know her?"

"I don't _know_ her exactly," he rubs the back of his neck.

"But you recognized her," Sasuke's words have an unfamiliar edge to them, but Naruto thinks he understands.

"I remember her spirit," he admits, reluctantly. "It took me a while to figure out where I thought I knew it from, but I didn't want to say anything to you until I was sure."

"And now you are?"

"Pretty sure," he nods. "Just got word this morning. How soon can you be ready to travel?"

"I'm not leaving," he crosses his arms. "I can't risk her returning here without someone to help her or keep her from completely reinventing my home."

"Thought you might say that," Naruto grins. "I already have a solution."

He crosses to his door and brushes his fingers against a seal. The blond man that appears is an older, calmer Naruto.

"Are you ready to go?"

Naruto looks at Sasuke expectantly. "What do you say, Teme?"

"And who will watch the River if both Guardians leave?"

"Oh, I think we can handle it."

Sasuke turns to see not only Naruto's mother, but his own as well.

"You don't have much time," his mother puts both hands on his shoulders. "We'll speak when you get back."

Sasuke isn't sure if he complies quickly because he is anxious for news of Sakura or if he is anxious not to speak to his mother about why he anxious about Sakura.

He finds the entire situation to be annoying.

Naruto gives him a thumbs up as Minato puts a hand on each of their shoulders and says: "Hold on tight."

That is the last thing Sasuke hears before the world goes black.


	12. Stranger than Fiction

**At Death's Door  
12\. Stranger than Fiction**

* * *

The world warps and twists around him one minute, then unwinds and straightens itself out the next.

Sasuke blinks, taken aback by the wash of blue light that runs over everything.

"Where are we?"

"Come," Minato directs them forward. "We have an audience with Princess Tsunade, and she does not wait well.

Naruto and Sasuke stride after him, looking around the high, carved walls of the palace.

It takes him a moment to recognize the dancing pattern of lights, and his theory is proven when something lazily swims past the giant windows. He quirks an eyebrow at Naruto.

"We are under water?"

"In the River."

"The River?" Sasuke frowns, and then the realization dawns on him. "That is where you saw her. In the River."

He never gets his answer, as the moment they round the corner they enter not a throne room, but a room with a large desk, behind which is seated a regal woman with long, blonde hair and a diamond marking on her forehead.

She folds her hands and rests her elbows on the desk, eyeing them all shrewdly. To her left is a slight woman holding a scroll. To her right is a tall, burly, jovial man with white hair and a lecherous grin.

"Princess," Minato bows.

"Minato," she greets him with a not unkind nod of her head. "I take it this is your son and his friend?"

"Naruto and Sasuke," he affirms.

"So," she rests her hands under her chin. "Which one of you knows what happened to Sakura?"

The younger men exchange glances.

Naruto rubs the back of his neck and ventures, "We were hoping that you could tell us."

A frown mars her pretty face.

"She went missing," she meets their eyes. "Disappeared without a trace."

Sasuke's pulse quickens.

"How long ago?"

"And why weren't you looking for her?" Nartuo jumps in.

"We _were_ looking for her," she narrows her eyes at Naruto. "We are _still_ looking for her. That is why I agreed to allow Minato to bring you."

"How long have you been looking?"

"For the better part of a year, now."

"A year? Naruto blinks. "When did she disappear?"

"We don't know precisely when she went missing, or even have a last known location," Tsunade folds her hands on the desk. "The work of a Healer can take them far from home for an extended mission. It isn't unusual to be on assignment and out of contact for months at a time. There are very few Waterborn who achieve Sakura's level of skill, and only two in our history that reached it so quickly. As one of our very best, she especially was familiar with extended assignments."

"Doesn't her family get worried?"

"I'm sure they do," she lifts one shoulder, "but they understand and respect Sakura's decision. When she comes home, Kizashi goes right back to telling bad jokes, and Mebuki asks about her boyfriend."

"She has one of those?" Naruto blinks.

"No," Tsunade's eyes glimmer in what might be amusement. "The last person she was with made the mistake of trying to be with another person at the same time. Both women found out and let's just say he regrets his decision."

The conversation is eerily familiar to Sasuke.

"When was the last time you heard from her?"

"Her last report is dated over a year ago," the woman behind Tsunade speaks up. "The mission itself started about three years ago."

"Then I don't see how this can be the same person," Sasuke's voice is calm and even, despite his internal disappointment. "This Sakura told me of her life in a mortal realm from childhood on. She began appearing in my home some time ago, but not a year ago."

"But your Sakura tells you of a similar life, yes?" the white-haired man stands (and Sasuke suddenly recognizes Jiraiya - one of the Sages). "Not exactly the same, but similar?"

Sasuke considers this. A mortal doctor would be equivalent to a healer, wouldn't it? She spoke of working alone, and having few interactions with others...

"Who is Chiyo?"

The name is clearly significant to them, and Tsunade leans forward on her elbows, pinning him with a penetrating gaze.

"How do you know that name?"

"Sakura told me," he meets her gaze unflinchingly. "In her mortal life her latest job was as a researcher under Chiyo, working largely alone and with very dangerous samples - poisons and the like." He pauses. "I take it this is significant?"

"Very," Tsunade's eyes gleam. "Tell me everything she told you - every detail, no matter how small - and then I shall fill in the blanks. Between the two of us, we might be able to piece this mystery together enough to bring our girl home."

Sasuke begins his story, ignoring his curious internal reaction to the word 'home,' and the implication that it could be anywhere other than in the spaces she'd molded for herself in his life. He chalks the strange weight in his gut to preemptive irritation at a no-doubt-soon-to-be-smug Naruto (even though Naruto is taking this all in with an uncharacteristic seriousness) even if the taste of it is something more bittersweet.

Naruto was right.

Other people had been looking for her.

Other people care about her.

She is needed and missed and even loved here (Sasuke recognizes the emotion in tucked in the corners of Tsunade's eyes and the folds of her concern).

Sakura needs to return to her home.

And Sasuke needs to let her.

And perhaps he isn't as prepared for that as he thought..


	13. In Dreams

_enjoy..._

* * *

 **At Death's Door  
13\. In Dreams**

* * *

He dreams that night.

"Sasuke?"

He turns as the blur of pink comes into focus and familiar green eyes light with relief.

"Oh, thank goodness," she rushes toward him and flings arms around his neck. And because it is a dream he allows himself to hold her closely, anchoring her to himself with an arm banded across her back and a hand in her hair. "I've been trying to get back to you," she buries her face in the crook of his neck. "But I don't know how."

"Where are you?"

"Dreaming," the wet of tears begins to soak into his shirt, but he doesn't mind. "That's all I know. I can't get back to where I'm from, and I can't get back to you, and I don't know why."

"Sakura, listen to me," he pulls away, his hands sure on her shoulders. "You have to think back."

"I've tried," her eyes glisten with tears unshed. "I can't remember anything more about my life before I started coming to you."

"Not from that life," he shakes his head. "Think back to when you were a Healer."

She cocks her head to the side.

"A healer?"

"You're a Healer," he explains quickly, for he knows it is not a dream of his making, and he doesn't know how long this connection will last. "A Waterborn - your kind lives in the River of Life. As a Healer you tend to the souls in the River, and help mend damages done during their time spent in mortal realms. Naruto has sensed you in the River, and that is why you felt familiar."

She blinks. "Like a water nymph? But that makes no sense, Sasuke, I-"

"Think back, Sakura," he says firmly, so very aware of the time that they don't have. "You were last seen at the palace several years ago before you went on a mission. Sometime after your last report, you disappeared. Why? What happened?"

"I...I don't know?"

"Names, Sakura," he grips her a little harder. "Tell me any names you can think of. Who are your parents?"

"My parents," she puts a hand to her head.

"A friend - any friend! - from your life. The name of the boyfriend you left - anything!"

Her breath shallows, and she grips his arms.

"I...Ino," she gasps. "My friend. My best friend - her name is Ino. We've been friends since we were children."

"Ino," he tucks the name away. "What else?" his eyes wander over her face. You said you had a mentor," he prompts. "Tell me about her."

"She," she draws in shaky breaths. "She is tough but fair. She likes to gamble, but is terrible at it, she.."

Sakura stumbles on her words, struggling to hold onto the thread of thought.

"What does she look like?"

"Blonde. Long blonde hair with um..." she blushes, thinking of her phrasing when the light flickers across her face. "Tsunade! Her name is Tsunade!"

"Tsunade is the princess at the River Palace."

"Tsunade's palace," she looks pained as she tries to remember. "I left...I left on a mission."

"Yes."

"I was tending the souls in the realms that border yours. But there was a problem - more and more souls needing to be healed, so I went upstream to investigate." He sees the realization strike her. "They were being poisoned. I went to find Lady Chiyo - to ask for her help."

"Tsunade wasn't sure if you found her - did you?"

"Yes," she breaths, eyes wide with the realization. "I...I was helping her. Sasuke - I was with Chiyo - if you find her-"

"I'll find her," he promises, noticing she is beginning to fade.

"Thank you," she wraps her arms around him tightly, and he holds her close as if to stave off the inevitable.

"I don't know when I'll see you again," she murmurs into his throat. "I'm frightened, Sasuke."

"I'm not the only one searching, Sakura. We will find you."

She pulls back to look him in the eyes, determination glittering in the depth of their jade.

"I'll keep trying to come back - as long as I can - I'll keep trying."

"It won't be much longer," he finds himself promising. "I'll find you, Sakura"

She refuses to look away, even as she fades.

"Sasuke,..."

He gives her a rare and gentle smile, and with two fingers he taps her forehead.

"I'll see you next time, Sakura," he holds her gaze steadily, even as the world around them begins to shift and blur and he can feel her fading beneath his fingertips.

And she understands what he doesn't say, so she bravely sets her chin to a stubborn and resolved angle.

Her voice lingers even when her image fades, and the dream ends.

"Next time, Sasuke. I'll be waiting."

Sasuke wakes to the pale hints of a new day, the feel of her still warm against his skin. He studies his hand, her energy lingering in the ridges of his fingertips and in the echoes of his pulse.

And in the silence of the new dawn, he makes his promise.

"Next time, Sakura,"


	14. Allies

_Friends, I normally direct message anyone that follows/favorites my work, but I am on limited time these days. Thank you so much for your support! I can't believe how much traffic this little story has gotten. Hello, new friends, and welcome!_

* * *

 **At Death's Door  
** **14\. Allies**

* * *

Sasuke hadn't initially wanted Hinata to approach Kiba; since Kiba's sister Hana is Itachi's Cheif Hunter, he knew it would only be a matter of (very little) time before Itachi caught wind of his situation. After Itachi made it very clear that he not only knew of his situation but was involving himself in the situation whether Sasuke liked it or not, there was no good reason to keep Kiba out of things. In fact, there were quite a few good reasons to take Hinata's advice and involve both him and Shino.

But after his dream conversation with Sakura, Sasuke knows that he needs all the help he can get.

He swallows his pride, and agrees to let her directly contact her cousin on his behalf.

Sasuke and Neji had not been close as children and generally irritated each other just by being exactly who they were. But even Sasuke had been impressed when, Neji had been specifically recruited by ANBU, an elite team of Hunters especially assembled and trained to find souls across realms. He had accepted his clan's brand in exchange for this honor and a release from any clan obligations, and they accepted that any violation of his freedom would result in swift and damning retribution from his new 'family.'

He appears in Sasuke's realm with one other member of his team.

When he pushes his mask to the side to speak, Sasuke does well to hide his surprise.

The Hyūga looks nothing like the prodigy Sasuke remembers. The Neji that Sasuke remembers had been the picture of propriety in the flowing garb of his clan; this Neji has ink embedded in his skin, striping down his chin and curling around the ANBU mark on his upper arm to disappear under his uniform. The tattoos are nothing the Neji he had known would have tolerated much less worn with such obvious pride. Perhaps in an act of defiance, he has shaved the underside of his long hair – or perhaps it is for more practical reasons – leaving the remaining length gathered at the top of his head. Oddly enough, the marking Sasuke knows to circle his forehead remains bandaged, and that is something the Guardian does not question.

"We came as soon as we heard," Neji speaks without preamble. "Has she appeared in any other dreams?"

"Only briefly."

"Has there been any luck contacting Lady Chiyo?"

"No. Princess Tsunade has attempted to contact Chiyo, but nothing has been heard back. All we know is that Sakura headed up-river."

"What of the tracking attempts?"

"Shisui and Hana have had some luck success Sakura's movements, but they keep losing her trail for when she goes in and out of the River. Unfortunately, only the Waterborn can track in the River, and Tsunade's people aren't having much luck."

"Well lucky for you," Neji's partner pushes her mask aside, "That isn't strictly true."

Normally playful lips twist into an altogether too familiar smirk, and Sasuke supposes he should've noticed the twin buns sooner.

"Tenten? What are you doing here?"

"Don't sound so surprised, Cousin," she admonishes him lightly. "Did you think I would not make a point to come once I heard you needed help?"

"Cousin?" Neji arches an eyebrow.

"Distant," she shrugs. "On his mother's side – not through the Uchiha."

It is Sasuke's turn to smirk.

"You didn't know?"

Neji narrows his eyes. "It must not have been important enough to mention."

"How can you track in the River," he looks her over not in disbelief, but in surprise. If there is one thing Tenten is, it is honest - and she never exaggerates her talents. This is simply one he has never heard mentioned. "Do they teach you that in ANBU?"

Tenten lifts one shoulder. "Just something I've picked up along the way."

Before either man can comment, she adds "You said Shisui and Hana have had success tracking her, right?"

"The trail keeps returning to the River. Shisui can detect faint traces in the River to guide their efforts, but it is largely up to Hana to find if and when it returns to land."

"Then we'll just have to pick up where they leave off," she looks over to Neji who nods, the veins bulging around his eyes.

"Found them."

"Then let's go. Don't worry, Sasuke," she puts a kind hand on his arm. "We'll find her."

His smile is faint. "Thank you, Tenten."

He and Neji exchange polite nods as she steps back to join her partner.

"Give Aunt Mikoto my regards," she winks, earning a faint smile from Sasuke, and what probably would've been an eyeroll from Neji had that last remnant of his Huyga upbringing permitted him to indulge in such a plebeian gesture. They replace their masks, and disappear, undoubtedly joining Shisui and Hana.

Sasuke decides to check in with the others, absently making a mental note to ask his mother more about her people when next they meet.

* * *

 _**For the inspiration of Neji's rogue look check out Ninjaellis on Tumblr and her Punk!Neji._

 _**To clarify: Mikoto's' great-great-great-afewmoregreats grandmother came from Tenten's clan. In the manga, it is implied that Mikoto (who is a Jonin, btw) was excellent at shurikenjutsu, and I always loved the idea that Tenten was somehow tangentially related to her. Tenten was found by a wandering band of Hunters when she was a child, and appears to be the last of her clan (another story for another day). Her father was a Waterborn, her mother was from the weapons clan, making her a Halfling. Halflings are rare, and prone to wander, as their dual natures make it difficult to attach themselves to one place or lifestyle. They do need to occasionally reconnect with the River. Can you tell I've thought about this?_

 _**AU points:  
_ _* In this AU the Caged Bird Seal is not used to inflict pain; it is to seal the Byakugan only.  
* Shepherds find lost souls and stay within one or two realms. Hunters travel across multiple realms. ANBU is an elite band of Hunters with or without clan affiliations, and often organized into shifting teams comprised of two/three person cells._  
 _*The Waterborn may become Healers, but they don't have to. (Sakura's parents are not and neither was Tenten's father.) Their connection to the River gives them all some rudimentary skill in using the River to heal. Sakura is exceptional in this AU as she is in canon, and of the highest skill/echelons of Healers. Because of this, she can be away from the River for quite some time, should she need to be.  
_

 _Sorry new friends here for the SasuSaku; I am a NejiTen writer at heart, or at least at Tenten writer, and if there is an opportunity for a cameo, well i just gotta. There has been a ton of traffic for this story, and I thank you for your support! Your messages make me excited to post the next day's chapter!_

 _\- With a smalll heart full of gratitude,  
Giada_


	15. Friends In Deed

_Familial obligations this weekend, friends. Have a longer chapter today, and I'll see you Monday._

* * *

 **At Death's Door**  
 **15\. Friends In Deed**

* * *

No one has been able to contact Chiyo.

If all attempts to reach the old Witch before Sakura's disappearance had been met with limited success, then all of those following were met with utter failure.

That means one of two things.

1) She isn't speaking with Princess Tsunade (again)

2) Something has happened to her.

Since Tsunade swears on the River that she hasn't so much as breathed in the wrong direction toward Lady Chiyo in well over a decade, it is assumed that something or someone else is keeping Chiyo from either receiving their messages or responding to them.

Ino, taking it upon herself to broaden the search, finds herself in Naruto's home, warily watching the Light and Dark Guardians through the curling steam of untouched tea.

"So, no one has seen Chiyo in the River?" Naruto watches his guest carefully, digesting all that she has told them.

"Chiyo wasn't in the River to begin with," Ino adjusts herself in the unfamiliar seat. "Her home is on the largest of the islands hidden in the river."

Naruto's face screws up in confusion, and it would have amused her if she wasn't so heartweary.

"How do you hide islands in a river? Like how do you even - why would you even bother to keep that a secret?"

"It's a long story," she half smiles, half sighs, "but I think it boils down to Chiyo's never being particularly friendly with Princess Tsunade." Something wistful and rueful and fond twists her lips. "When Sakura first told me she was determined to find her, I tried to stop her. But once she gets an idea behind that forehead of hers," she shrugs. "There is no arguing."

"And this Chiyo, she does stuff with poisons?"

Ino tilts her head to the side and considers him. "I suppose you could say that. We Healers mend the damage done to souls during their mortal lives so they can enter the next realm intact. Unfortunately, souls can accumulate damage over time. Sometimes they become heavy with hate or loss or vengeance - things that can remain hidden travel with the soul through several cycles before manifesting. Purging a soul of that kind of damage takes time - those souls need to be removed from the River to heal where they can recover and not affect the others. If they aren't-"

"They can poison the River. And that is where Chiyo figures in," Naruto ventures. "So how do you get the souls to her?"

"We use this," she holds up her wrist, the engraved cuff glinting in the light. She motions to Naruto. "I hear one of your people's magic is what that lets us send the souls. They don't all go to Chiyo, per se," she leans back in her chair. "She is like Princess Tsunade in a way - she has others that work under her. As I understand it, each island has a Keeper who serves as both Gatekeeper and Guardian."

"So, Sakura could've sent the souls to Chiyo and never had any actual contact with her," Naruto sighs, deflating.

"Now you see why we've had such a hard time even beginning to track her."

Sasuke's voice surprises her, as he hasn't offered more than monosyllabic utterances since her arrival.

"No. She told me she was working with Chiyo. She must have found her. Therefore, we can reasonably assume that Chiyo was the last person to see her."

"Hey wait, the Keepers can get to Chiyo, right?" Naruto looks between them. "So, let's just follow the seal on your bracelet-thingy and get to one of the Keepers who can take us to the big island to talk to Chiyo!"

Ino shakes her head.

"It is not that straightforward. The seal isn't designed to work that way, and I've never even met a Keeper, much less heard of anyone speaking Lady Chiyo directly."

Sasuke silences Naruto's next interruption with a look and asks:

"When was the last time you heard from Sakura?"

Ino considers him shrewdly, and they size one another up.

"Officially? A year ago – with her last report to the Princess."

"And unofficially?"

"Unofficially, I still hear from her." And when Naruto rushes to interject, she quickly adds "I hear _from_ her, but I can't communicate _with_ her."

Her frustration is as evident as her concern, and here, too, Sasuke thinks, is someone not used to feeling powerless.

"My clan – we can Mindspeak and Dreamwalk. I don't remember a time before Sakura and I were friends – even as children I could always find her. Now I occasionally catch glimpses of her mind – but I can never pinpoint exactly where she is, or maintain contact for long. I was hoping if I could be somewhere she had been more recently, I might be able to establish a connection with her."

"Come," Sasuke stands, leaving Naruto to scramble to his feet.

"Hey, yeah! – if you could sense her anywhere, it would be at tem-er-Sasuke's place."

Ino follows, hope sliding under her skin.

She gasps as she enters Sasuke's home, a familiar warmth washing over her.

"She _was_ here," she murmurs incredulously.

Ino closes her eyes and reaches out with her mind, finding where Sakura's presence is strongest.

"There," she points blindly, before registering the comfortable chair in front of the fire and the bookshelves. "Of course," the familiarity of it all pains her heart. "Sakura has always liked her books."

She pauses and looks to Sasuke hesitantly. "May I?"

He nods.

She sits in the chair, and folds her legs into a lotus position, before closing her eyes and extending her focus.

Naruto and Sasuke hardly dare to breathe as she works.

"She's alive," Ino breathes. "I can _feel_ her – she's…" Ino's features crumple in confusion. "She's not in the River…but…but that is impossible, isn't it?"

"For her to not be in the River?" Naruto looks at Sasuke and then back to Ino. "Unusual, but not impossible, right?"

"No… she's… she's beyond it," Ino whispers.

Suddenly her eyes fly open and she shoots to her feet.

"So, there you are," she growls, eyes flashing fire.

"You found her?" Naruto jumps up.

"Don't you 'Hey, Ino,' me," she plants her hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea how worried Chōji and I have been –" she blinks twice. "What do you mean hold on?"

"Um...Ino?" Naruto points to the inky pool forming under her feet.

She looks down, wide eyed and then holds her hands out to them. "Hurry!"

But instead of allowing them to pull her away, she grabs each of their outstretched arms and pulls them in closely, and they become a disoriented jumble of darkness.

It is over as soon as it begins, and they are soon standing on the shores of a beach.

They all blink into the sunlight, the breeze gentle on their skin, the sound of the River lapping at the shore.

"I might literally murder him," Ino mutters, narrowing her eyes and stalking toward the tight cluster of palms and their small pool of shade.

"Ino, any time you want to tell us what's up, that'd be great," Naruto rubs the back of his neck.

But she is too busy fisting her hands on her hips and glaring into nothing to answer.

"What the hell is going on, Shikamaru?" she demands.

Sasuke and Naruto look at one another.

Naruto mouths 'She's crazy!'

Sasuke tries for a more direct approach.

"Ino, there's no one - "

"If you don't show your lazy ass in the next three seconds, I'm going right back into that River, and I am getting Yoshino, do you understand me? One! Two! Th-

"Fine, fine," an exasperated voice sighs in surrender as the shadows under the trees reverse sublimate into something human. "Ino," a man nods to her, "I see you are troublesome as ever."

"And you are just as infuriating," she snaps, crossing her arms tightly around herself. "Do you know how worried Chōji and I have been about you? You were supposed to come back from your mission two weeks ago - where have you been? Where are we?"

"It's kind of a long story," he rubs the back of his neck. "You'd better come with me."

"After the stunt you just pulled I'm not going anywhere with anyone," she snorts. "And if you think I'm just going to let you-

"Shikamaru? Who are these people?"

Ino snaps her head at the sound of another voice – another female voice – and is startled by the piercing teal gaze that meets her own.

"This is my friend Ino. I have no idea who he people behind her are, but they look like Guardians. If I had to guess they are here about Sakura. This is Temari," he motions to the woman. "She and her siblings are Keepers."

"They are friends of Sakura?" Temari asks, looking them over. "The one who helped Lady Chiyo?"

"Well Ino is," Shikamaru shrugs. "Can't tell you anything about the other two."

"We're her friends," Naruto pipes up. "Believe it!"

"So, you know what happened to Sakura?" Ino blinks widely - her anger banked by confusion.

"I know what didn't happen to Sakura," he clarifies, "but in this case, that might actually be more helpful."

He and Temari share a silent exchange and she gives a sharp nod.

"You'd better come with me, then." She pulls out a large fan and whips it across the beach, creating a vortex glinting with sand.

"Is that a Gate?" Ino blinks.

"Lady Chiyo is waiting," Temari leans on her closed fan. "I wouldn't test her patience if I were you."

Shikamaru shrugs again and turns for the gate, motioning for them to follow (or not – it doesn't appear as if he is bothered either way, much to Ino's annoyance and exasperation).

Ino darts a look between the open Gateway and her friend before grasping him tightly in a hug.

"I can't lose another friend, you jerk," she mutters into his neck. "Don't do that to us ever again."

"Alright, Ino" he returns the hug with a greater care than his attitude would've suggested was possible. "I won't." He steps back, a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. It's troublesome," he nods to the gate, "but it is safe."

She nods, and steps into the gateway, Naruto close on her heels. Sasuke follows, leaving Shikamaru to linger.

"I'd say ladies first...," he looks Temari over, and she narrows her eyes at the expected barb

"...but I can't close the gate."

He steps through, pausing for her to follow.

"Idiot," she mutters, and in the whirl of sand hides the pink of her cheeks and the twist of her smile.


	16. Oaisis

**At Death's Door**  
 **16\. Oasis**

* * *

They step out of the vortex somewhere less desolate and more green.

"Is this Chiyō's island?" Naruto takes in the curve of the trees and the wide, flat leaves.

"One of them," Temari tucks away her fan as the gate fades away behind them. She doesn't pause to encourage questions – she keeps walking up a narrow path to a small, wooden home. A man in black - skin pale and worn under streaks of purple paint - steps out and looks over them all.

There is a tension coiled in his arms and back until Temari offers (in a tone gentler than they've yet heard her use):

"It's alright, Kankurō. I brought them."

The tension subsides, sliding off of his bulky frame, leaving only restless fatigue. He steps to the side, and they filter past, one-by-one into the small dwelling.

There, in a rocking chair in front of the fire, sits an old woman nursing a cup of tea.

"Ah," she looks up at them wearily. "I see Sakura's friends have come."

"Lady Chiyō?" Ino asks tentatively. The old woman nods her head, and Ino takes a hesitant step forward before deciding to stay where she is, breathless and brimming with fragile hope. "Please...Do you know where Sakura is?"

"No, child," she puts down her cup. "I wish that I did."

"But you did see her, didn't you?" Naruto steps forward involuntarily.

"I did indeed," she looks him over. "Sakura was a great help in gathering and tending many, many souls. It is a good thing she came - I was quite overwhelmed."

"Please," Ino sinks gracefully into the seat at Chiyō's side, putting her at a level deferential to the temperamental Witch "Please, tell me what happened to her?"

"You must be Ino," her wrinkled face bunches into a smile. "She spoke of you. I thought your Princess would send you looking for her rather than your friend there, but I suppose it made more sense to send a Shadow Weaver to the islands than a Waterborn – even if they are a Mind Walker. He can rejuvenate in our shade, you know, and can survive even if the water is tainted. She always was a clever witch," Chiyō mutters into her mug while Ino turns to Shikamaru.

There is some communication between them - some exchange of ideas and explanations and apologies reduced to the silence and sum of a few minute gestures.

When Ino speaks, it is a statement, not a question:

"You're here to look for Sakura."

He lifts one shoulder noncommittally. She takes in the gesture, not only has her answer, but intuitively knows that he was the one that realized his magic would afford him protection, and had taken the mission out of concern for both Sakura and herself.

She turns back to Chiyō.

"You said there were more souls being poisoned. What happened?"

"Ah," she sighs, reaching for her mug again, suddenly full and warm. "That. It began with individual souls – sometimes there is an influx of damaged souls if there has been great strife in a realm. Mass famine, war – all of those things can cause it, so there wasn't immediate cause for alarm. But Sakura noticed a pattern to the poisons that transcended those circumstances. Something or someone was tainting the river. That was what drove her to seek me out."

She takes a long draw off of her tea, before continuing.

"Unfortunately, I recognized the poison," she studies her reflection in the murky drink. "Sakura and I confronted the enemy and brought him down. His very heart – the core of his being was so badly polluted, it actually began to poison the island – something that has never happened before." She shakes her head. "It was beyond my ability to heal, and I was badly wounded in the fight. We managed to seal the heart between us, but it still needs to be purged. She healed herself, and healed me as best she could, and left the island, taking the heart with her."

"Taking it with her?!" Naruto blinks. "Taking it where?"

"Beyond the Headwaters."

"There isn't anything beyond the Headwaters," Ino frowns.

"You yourself said she was beyond the River," Sasuke glanced at Ino, but kept Chiyō in his field of vision. "Where else could she be and be so wholly concealed from so many skilled trackers."

Chiyō considers Sasuke.

"An Uchiha," her surprise is faint. "It has been quite some time since I saw one of your clan."

"Am I correct?"

"Yes," she regards him with growing curiosity. "At least that is where she was intending to go. No one now living has ever traveled past the Headwaters.

"Then why would Sakura even try to go there?" Naruto looks to Shikamaru.

"Legend tells of a tree that can heal any ill. It is said to be in the Garden hidden at the origin of the Headwaters."

"Then that is easy, right?" Naruto says hopefully. "We just go past the Headwaters and find the Garden and get to Sakura. So how do we get there?"

"The gate to the Garden is hidden," Chiyō shakes her head. "No one knows where it is."

Naruto blinks. "And no one knows where this gate is? So, she could be literally anywhere?"

"Now you're catching on," Kankurō mutters from his place against the wall, arms crossed, eyes hard.

"But she fought here, right?" Naruto counters. "Can't we track her from here?"

"She didn't fight here," Kankurō snorts. "We brought Lady Chiyō here to recuperate. Gaara is guarding the main island while she is here."

"Then we need to track from there," Sasuke says, Chiyō affirming his thoughts with the barest of nods.

"Gaara was the last to see her," Kankurō pushes away from the wall. "Get your things. I will take you to him."

"Finally!"

They look at Shikamaru.

"What?" he shrugs. "I've been asking you to take me to him for _weeks_."

"And we would've sent you," Chiyō gives him a small smile, "Except Temari was rather particular about you remaining alive and intact."

Temari flushes and Shikamaru blinks.

"Eh? Why wouldn't I come back intact?"

"Give my best to Gaara," Chiyō ignores the question. "I'm sure that the Sand Demon has been subdued, and he will be far more approachable now. Stay together - If he appears on the verge of a blood frenzy, get to safety."

"Wait, what?" Naruto gaped. "You can't be serious, we just-"

"Ta!" she waves, her grin wicked and amused as the floor lights up beneath them all and they disappear from sight.

She chuckles to herself and pours another cup of tea.


	17. Chasing Echoes

_enjoy..._

* * *

 **At Death's Door**  
 **17\. Chasing Echoes**

* * *

Sasuke finds himself on the edge of another dreamscape, eyes blazing red against black as he searches for her. He almost moves on to the next hint of her when a gentle breeze sways the heavy drape of the willow tree.

He enters, then, crossing with quick strides and ducking under the canopy of green to find her sleeping, cradled in the curve of the tree, a book dangling loosely in her fingers.

He hesitates for a moment, thinking perhaps this is one more Echo – one more false trail generated by the hidden Gate. He has chased so many lately – across dreamscapes and in the waking world – only to have them vanish like witch's water when he draws too near.

It had been Hinata that had figured out that part of the mystery.

" _Gates generate their own magic," she explained when they returned to his home, fresh (or not-so-fresh) from their encounter with Gaara. "As Gatekeepers, we learn to bend and meld their magic with ours, but a gate can stand alone."_

 _"But for it to remain hidden for so long?" Sasuke leaned forward, arms on his knees. "Is such a thing possible?"_

 _"If the old stories are to be believed, then yes," she said slowly. "Hidden Gates are said to generate powerful distortion magic – things to prevent anyone from identifying and following it's magical signature. One of the forms is to create Echoes of the trail, duplicating not only the surroundings but any magical signatures and scattering them – projecting them, if you will. If Sakura got near enough to the gate, it could've created Echoes to disorient her."_

 _"And these Echoes," Naruto crossed his arms. "Would they just affect her?"_

 _"No," Hinata shakes her head. "The gate would broadcast them - It could've even temporarily forced her to another plane."_

 _Sasuke sat up at this, but Naruto spoke before he could._

 _"Could it have sent her here?"_

 _"Yes," she blinked. "I suppose it could."_

 _"But then why did she think she'd been in a mortal life?"_

 _"She had been handling mortal souls from those waters," Hinata shrugged. "The Gate could've overlaid the memories to disorient her. The best illusions are part truth, after all."_

 _"So…" Naruto ventured, "the Sakura that came here might've been an illusion. It might not have been her at all.'_

 _"No," Hinata shakes her head. "It was always her; just with her memories bent. Distortion magic has to make sense to the person for it to truly work. The Gate borrowed from her own reality as well as one that neutralized her as a threat - "_

 _"By making her think she was mortal and not Waterborn," Sasuke finished. "To keep her from looking."_

 _"But she did," Naruto reasoned, "or she wouldn't have kept disappearing and showing up here."_

 _"You said that Gaara was helping to anchor her when she searched?"_

 _They both nodded._

 _"Then…then I suppose that even in her disoriented state, she found an anchor here – something that helped tether her, so that when she was displaced she always returned to the same location." she flicked a meaningful glance to Sasuke before shrugging, "...But I can't be sure."_

Sakura shifts and sighs in her sleep and the slant of sunbeam slides across the pale diamond in the center of her forehead – the marking that Ino described but Sasuke had not yet seen on Sakura.

This, then, wasn't an echo or an illusion.

Something is strange and tight in his chest as his Sharingan fades and he debates waking her.

Before he can arrive at a decision, her eyes flutter open, wide and unfocused, even deeper green than he remembers.

Jade captures onyx for an eternity marked in heartbeats, as Sasuke's world stutters to a stop.

"Sasuke?" her voice is thick with sleep. "What are you doing here?"

The relief that sluices over him is marrow deep; Sakura - the real Sakura - knows him.

"What else?" he asks, his voice far more even than he feels. "I am looking for you."

She peers at him curiously, and tentatively reaches a hand out to the hem of his cloak.

"You're real," she murmurs, and he wonders if the same fears that lingered in the corners of his heart had touched hers as well.

There might be amusement in his tone as he sits by her, leaning against the tree.

"Didn't you know that Death can walk in dreams?"

"So…so I didn't bring you here?" she shifts to face him. "This isn't just a dream?"

"It is a dream," he allows, "but I am here. I came to find you. We found Lady Chiyō."

Sakura straightens up, suddenly more alert, her book slipping from her lap with a small 'thud' on the thick grass.

"Is she?"

"She is fine," he assures her.

"And Kankurō?"

"Fully recovered."

She breathes her relief.

"Tsunade can't sense you in the River," he watches her closely. "Gaara says you made several trips to find a Gateway before you left to travel beyond the Headwaters to find the Garden. Did you ever get there?"

She nods slowly.

"I... I found the Gateway."

"Is this the Garden?" he looks around.

"Difficult to say," she shrugs. "My thoughts are jumbled. It's been so long, now, I don't know what are dreams and what are memories."

She looks out over the garden with him.

"Willow trees have deep, deep roots," her gaze travels beyond the canopy of green to the sunlit grass and blue skies. "They are always in touch with the water. They can be rejuvenating for the Waterborn. I think that is why I am here…wherever here is."

"Is this place real outside of your dreams?"

"I think I read about it somewhere," she muses, eyes unfocused.

"In your book?" he picks up the worn leather from the grass between them

"I recognize this," he studies the cover. "You left a copy by your chair."

She blinks. "My chair?"

He doesn't comment.

She turns to him, studying the sharp angles and gentle curves of his profile.

"How did you find me?"

"I followed the shifting furniture."

Her laugh is clear, and honest, washing over him with the rejuvenating bliss of spring rain.

"My home is not the same without you."

The admission is quiet and frank and hangs between them.

"From what I gather it wasn't the same with me, either," she says gently.

"No," he agrees. "It is better when you are there."

Her smile is soft.

"I have a feeling I was more at home with you than I've been anywhere else," she flushes and is flustered. "Then again, I've never taken the liberty of making myself quite as home anywhere as I did in your home –"

He rests his hand over hers, and her words fade into breath.

"I will find you Sakura," his eyes to drift up and catch hers, "I will bring you home."

The unspoken 'with me _'_ pulses in the press of their fingers winding together.

"It will be good to go home," she curls into him with a smile. "I do have some more rearranging to do."

"I'm sure you do," he smiles into her hair. "Ino seems to think that we will need to add a wing for all of your books."

"Don't listen to her," Sakura snorts inelegantly, "she's always loved to tease me about...Sasuke!" she sits bolt upright. "The books!"

"It's fine, Sakura," his smile is dry and teasing. "We'll make the room."

"No, no, that's not it," she shakes her head vehemently, glancing to the side, nervously. For the first time, he notices the far edges of the garden beginning to gray – the dream is ending.

"There isn't much time," she takes up the book she had been reading and hugs it to her chest. "You have to go now."

"No," he sits up, all senses alert. "I can follow dream trails – if I wait-"

Her kiss is sudden and insistent and warm and overwhelming, and he holds her as tightly to himself as he dares.

"Come find me, Sasuke," she whispers against his lips, their foreheads pressed together. "Find me and bring me home."

Before he can even think to assure her, he snaps awake in his own home.

He isn't in his room, but then he hadn't been to bed yet.

He is in the large chair – her chair – in front of a cheerful fire that had not been burning when he willed himself into a dream state to search for her.

He rakes a hand down his face, his fingers lingering near his mouth where the feel of her lips against his is still humming.

"Tea," he murmurs to no one in particular. "Tea, and then I'll start again."

He looks to the side-table to gather up his mug, and is surprised to see it is full, steaming, and sitting on a coaster next to a large book.

He brushes his fingers over the cover, instantly recognizing it as the one she had been reading – and that had been shelved only hours before.

Thinking perhaps that there might be something in the old stories to help in his search, he opens it to the page marked with a faded red ribbon.

 _The poison in these souls is like nothing I've ever seen before, and I don't think that it is natural. Something or someone is infusing these souls subtly - sometimes after death. One realm in the group seems to be unaffected; I suspect it has something to do with the warmth I sense from the Light Guardian; it appears to deter the darkness seeping into the victims. I have scanned the souls as they leave - Death is vigilant here, but also kind. They were carefully returned to the river. I haven't met this Uchiha (because of course the death is an Uchiha) - but I heard the name of the Light Guardian - his name is Naruto._

 _It appears the combined force of these two guardians has protected the souls in their realm - what a team they must be._

Sasuke sits straight up and rereads the entry before turning to another, random page.

 _Sasori's poison has severely weakened Lady Chiyō. I've neutralized what I can, but it will take time for her to fully recuperate. Gaara brought us both back to a smaller island untouched by the poisons - the one they call the Oasis. I need time to find my way, and it is too dangerous for the others to follow. I've asked the siblings to keep communications from Chiyō until she recovers, and to buy myself some time._

 _Her heart is going to be what hurts the most - Sasori was her grandson. He'd built himself into a shell of a person, and all that is left is the core with his heart. I've sealed it for now, but it is far too dangerous to leave to the smaller islands. To be safe, Gaara and I are the only beings on the large island; all other souls have been relocated. Kankurō is still weakened; I've put him in charge of Lady Chiyo's care, and asked Temari to serve as the only one opening the gates. Gaara is bound to a powerful being named Shukaku. He alone can withstand the effects with the poison, and keep the island safe._

 _But the island will not be able to purify Sasori's being - not fully - and I am the only one that can handle, contain, and regenerate. I have to find the Garden."_

He pages through the book, his eyes growing wide.

It isn't a story book.

It is her mission journal.

Every detail (and she is extremely detailed) is there, including a summary of what she actually sent in her reports.

She used the last moments of their connection and the strength of her presence in that one place to force an object to appear, intact, and in his home.

"Clever, Sakura," his smile is proud and sharp. He is instantly awake and summons Garuda.

"Master," the hawk dips his head. "Any news?"

"Summon the others," his eyes snap black lighting and fire. "It is time to bring her home."


	18. Gateway

_Longer chapter again, friends. Looks like two more. Will post Friday and Saturday; seems to be more readers then, and the last two chapters are more involved. Love all of the feedback, friends - thanks so much for reading!_

* * *

 **At Death's Door**  
 **18\. Gateway**

* * *

Generations ago, the Children of the Dragon - a small clan of weapon makers - befriended the Uchiha clan. Some legends attributed the Uchiha's inherent skills with weaponry not to their Sharingan, but as an inheritance from those few who had married into their clan and infused it with the call of steel that ran through their blood. Mikoto's several-times-great grandmother was a legend in her own time, said to wield the power of twin dragons in battle with an aim truer and deadlier than any before her.

It was thought that the clan had met a natural end, the remaining members marrying into other clans, or simply passing into the River without heirs. There were stories of family groups scattered throughout the realms, but no rumor ever proved to be anything more than wishful speculation.

Sasuke had grown up hearing the stories of the now extinct clan, and especially of his ancestor; his own mother was thought to be much like her, even if she looked nothing like the portrait hanging in the old Great Hall of her matrilineal home. (And as a small child, he had loved to watch metal stars fly from her fingertips in graceful and deadly control, always unerringly to the heart of her target.)

Tenten, however, did look very much like the portrait – something that immediately caught Mikoto's eye that summer when they were children and she was traveling through his Father's realm. Adopted into a tribe of Hunters as a young child, she knew of no living family. None of them recognized the markings on her skin for what they were - but Mikoto did.

As near as anyone could tell, Tenten was the last of that clan said to be able to coax steel into dancing.

Although she had no direct ties to the Uchiha, Mikoto had made it known that she could stay, should she choose to. Tenten had declined the offer, as well as a later one to take over the forges. (Although she did volunteer there for a solid month, looking perfectly at home in the ashes and flames, and earning an open invitation from the head blacksmith to return whenever she liked.)

Her decision had baffled Sasuke then, who could think of no greater honor than for a person without a clan to be taken in under one as illustrious as the Uchiha. When he heard she joined ANBU, he thought it fitting, giving her talents, her wanderlust (purportedly an inherited trait from her clan that clearly did not make its way into the Uchiha bloodline), and her love of all things sharp and deadly.

As he watches the usually stonyfaced Hyūga help her prepare to enter the base of the Headwaters, he begins to think she had other reasons for declining to join his clan.

"Remember the plan," he tells her as she checks the weapon she's strapped to her thigh – a dagger made from a strange metal Sasuke doesn't recognize. "Follow Sakura's instructions and mark the route. If at any point you feel yourself disoriented, focus on the link. If you start to fade,"

"Use this," she holds up her wrist where a newly forged cuff glints in the sun – something Mikoto and Minato helped her to craft in the Uchiha forges with the metal Tsunade had provided (and now that he studies it, Sasuke thinks matches the dagger on her leg).

"Be back in ten minutes."

"Twenty," she bargains fishing something out from another pouch and then handing it to the Hyūga. "The currents are strong here – I can't be certain I'll pick up the trail any faster than that."

"Fifteen," he winds the leather straps around her wrist. "Not a moment more."

"Twenty," she puts her hand over his, eyes serious. "I will need the time. I trust you as my anchor, Neji. I will be fine."

There is a silent battle of wills, and Sasuke is surprised when it is Neji who yields with a sharp exhale.

"Twenty. Or I pull you back," he holds up a wrist where a matching cuff glints in the sunlight.

She gives a small nod of concession.

Neji crosses his arms and eyes them both. "Sakura's last journal entry talked about her trying to find a way to secure the Gate, but we don't know if she was successful. You might find the Gate, but it can still get away from you. The others are stationed up and down the River at different points she tracked the gate, and every set of outlooks has one of Naruto's clones with them," he motions to the unusually quiet Naruto meditating at the base of a nearby tree. "If you get pulled away, look for the others."

"I think we'll be alright," Tenten looks over the river. "I should be able to pick up her trail and secure our route. After that, I'll come back and take you down, Sasuke."

"After that, you will rest," Neji corrects her. "Then we will see if the Uchiha is up for a swim."

"See," she nudges Sasuke and winks at Neji. "He's always keeping an eye on me."

"Someone has to, it seems."

Sasuke and Tenten's smirk is eerily similar, but Neji sees only her.

"Be careful."

Some silent communication passes between them – something deeper and fuller than Sasuke feels he has the right to see. He checks his own weapons, giving them his back.

There is a second before his cousin's steps crunch toward the shore – a second that if the Hyūga's faint blush is anything to go by – she chose to say goodbye.

They watch as she steps into the water, and melts into the current.

And that was part of the reason she has never stayed in one place.

She is a Waterborn.

Sasuke suspects the other reason is the man intently studying the water.

"How is it she can live outside of the water?" he asks. "I thought that the Waterborn could not be away from the River for great lengths of time."

"Purebloods can't," Neji agrees. "Halflings are different. She can't do what Tsunade and your Sakura do," he shrugs. "Mending the souls is a much different technique; but she can do some of the basic magic using the River and its healing properties. That is why she can track in the River."

"Does she need to return to the water?

"Occasionally," is all Neji is willing to offer. "She's special. And evidently, so is your Sakura."

Sasuke arches an eyebrow in surprise.

"If her reports are accurate, she marked a trail, and potentially not only found the Gateway, but anchored it," Neji's eyes do not leave the River as he speaks. "That is formidable magic."

"If Tenten marks the trail, perhaps I can follow it alone," he offers.

The olive branch hangs between them, born of genuine concern for the third member of their group as well as Sasuke's unwillingness to potentially risk harming a friend.

"No," Neji finally exhales. "Even once the trail is marked, you will need Tenten to get you beyond the Gate, and I will monitor your progress. There is no telling how stable the Gate is or if it will remain anchored."

Sasuke shrugs.

"I'm surprised you're willing to let her go with me."

"I'm surprised you think I have a say in the matter."

Sasuke may have smirked at Neji's wry grumble.

"Still," Neji crosses his arms. "You need to take precautions. Sakura could have survived this long without contact with the River, but she would be severely weakened. Take this."

Sasuke takes the small flask, curiously.

"It's from a healing spring. It will help Sakura revive temporarily." Neji flicks a glance to him and then back. "I don't want Tenten using hers on the Healer."

There is something in his tone that catches Sasuke's attention.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Shisui detected faint traces of poison in the waters here – kinds that could harm a Waterborn, but would be more dangerous to a Pureblood. Conversely, this water will be more effective on a Pureblood than a Halfling."

"And If Sakura has been exposed to poison, there is a risk to Tenten as well, correct?"

Neji nods.

"I'll look out for her," Sasuke stores the flask securely on his person.

Silence settles over them – and they both understand the gravity of the request.

The Headwaters are a sacred, ancient space. The origin of the River is primordial, and rife with magic in its own right.

No one now living has been beyond the Headwaters – they have no idea what is waiting for them.

Tenten materializes like fog on the water before solidifying and stepping on shore. Neji is there in an instant, wrapping something around her shoulders – although Sasuke can see she is not wet.

"Fire," she chatters, and this time it is Sasuke that hurries to oblige.

He blows fire into the pit they prepared earlier, and waits while she adjusts herself to sit before the flames, fingers outstretched.

Neji looks her over. "What happened?"

She shakes her head. "I'm fine," she places trembling fingers on his arm. "The currents are strong - the magic is old here."

She holds her hands out to the fire as Neji digs in his bag for a flask – something different than the one he has given to Sasuke.

"Drink," he hands it to her.

She complies, leaning into his side with a sigh. He adjusts the blanket around her shoulders with perfunctory movements that belie his care, before bracing a strong arm behind her back

"I'm _fine_ ," she assures him gently. "Actually, I'm better than fine," her grin is slow and sure (and is actually a smirk), and for the first time Sasuke thinks that perhaps the Uchiha inherited rather than forged the expression. "I'm about to meet my cousin's girlfriend."

Neji looks her over, amusement taking the edge off of his tension. "You secured the route, then?"

"It was just as Sakura had in her journal," she closes the flask and gives it back to Neji. "I found and marked her trail. The Gate is still securely anchored, but the distortion magic is very, very dense. I was afforded some protection," she holds her wrist up again, "but the Gate will sense when it is both of us approaching. We have no way of knowing when the Echos will start, so the sooner we can try and get through the gate the better."

Sasuke looks between her and Neji - this was not something he had anticipated.

"You are coming through the Gate?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Sasuke looks to Neji, certain he will talk her out of this aspect of the plan.

"Because," her smile is frank. "You need me."

A muscle jumps in Neji's jaw, even as he dips his head. "I will be able to find Tenten wherever the Gate takes her," he says with a certainty that Sasuke can't even begin to question and meets Sasuke's eyes in what might have been a challenge in other circumstances. "You didn't think my cousin was the only one that understood the magic of the Gates, did you?"

"No," he looks between them. "No, I suppose I didn't."

"Then we need to go," Tenten stands, folding the blanket and handing it to Neji. "I'm more than rested enough," she assures him before he can protest. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner everyone can go home."

Neji does embrace her then, wrapping her tightly to himself, and Sasuke pretends his hearing isn't sharp enough to hear him murmur into her hair "Come back to me."

"Always," she presses her lips to his, not in farewell, but in promise.

Sasuke catches his eye and gives a nod of understanding – they both have someone precious to bring home.

Tenten holds her hand out to Sasuke, and he takes it, following her into the River.

Death can enter the River – it is just not something his kind has much cause to do. Tenten's form shifts under the water, and suddenly he realizes she's formed a barrier around them.

She leads the way along the path, and Sasuke sees the distorted surroundings the nearer they get to the Gate.

"Sakura laid stabilizing enchantments," Tenten explains. "I laid the ones Tsunade and Minato wrote, so as long as we stick to the path, we should be mostly unaffected by the distortion magic. I can't guarantee that once we cross through."

"How did she tether the Gate?"

"See for yourself."

It takes him a moment to realize what he is seeing.

The Gate is old and towering and hardly looks like something that would move much less disappear. It stands alone, two locked panels with ornate curls and rods of weathered iron (although he doubts that is actually what it is made of) as an aged and stalwart sentinel.

There is a shift around the gate, and several images overlay, and his inhalation is sharp.

"Sakura!"

"Wait," she places a hand on his shoulder. "Watch."

The Sakura he sees is a combination of the ones he saw in his home and in dreams. He watches her lay the enchantments and study the gate. She kneels at the base of it and hovers glowing green palms over the riverbed until something tiny and green and living winds up between her fingers. Fatigued but satisfied, she sits back on her heels, and eyes the tree.

" _This might take a while,"_ she mutters, gently winding the sprout around one of the great, iron bars. She duplicates herself then. " _Guard it,"_ she instructs. And he watches as the images layer one over another over another as she and a series of clones come and work and dispel as the shoot winds and grows.

"That is how she was coming to me," he suddenly realizes. "She left clones by the gate, and the distortion magic projected her away."

Tenten side-eyes him. "She recorded it in her journal, didn't she?"

"Yes," he admits, pink dusting his cheeks, thinking of those recorded pages that he hadn't shared with the others - pages that could only be seen by him and that detailed their time together more as a diary than a report. The notes in the margins must've been made by Sakura reading over what her dispelled clones had reported.

" _Clearly, I have been having adventures,"_ her handwriting was quick and not the official hand she used in the rest of the book. Until now, he hadn't realized where the disconnect was between the Sakura who came to see him and the Sakura lost to the River.

A wave of magic gushes through the gates and the images double, triple, quadruple until the tiny shoot grows into the curve of a weeping cherry tree, bending and binding the bars, both anchoring the gate and creating an opening under the draped canopy of delicate blossoms.

He watches as Sakura in both real and clone form work to nurture the tree and combat the Gate's natural defenses. He understands now why his Sakura had begun to fade; she was weakened from fatigue and constant exposure to Sasori's poison.

Finally the images diminish until there is a thin overlay - the tree grown to completion, and Sakura holding a scroll tightly to her chest, squaring her shoulders, and entering the garden.

They are silent for a moment.

"The Gate didn't show me all of that the first time," she says. "It must know you are here."

He flicks a glance to her and then back to the gate.

"Do you think we will be able to cross?"

"Only one way to find out."

He nods and the black of his eyes twists and swirls with crimson. They walk to the edge of the marked and protected path - to the threshold of the Gate.

Sasuke surprises her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not explaining to Hyūga if something happens to you," he grumbles, and she smiles at him.

"And I'm looking forward to meeting this Sakura," she says by way of thank you.

She draws her dagger, he tightens his hold on her, and they step through the gate together.

* * *

 _To clear up any confusion:_

 _*Sakura took the core of Sasori's body to Chiyo's main Island; the only place that could contain his poison while she searched for the Gate._

 _*She chased the gate to several places, but finally managed to secure a path to one of those locations and planted an enchantment to secure the Gate. The magic took time to grow; she wasn't powerful enough to simply harness the Gate right away (no one is). She created clones to guard and grow the enchantment, and the clones were subject to the distortion magic. The reason Sakura kept appearing and disappearing was the clones were created and dispelled; essentially living out this fake life that the Gate generated to confuse her, and always returning to Sasuke. When the clones dispelled, they disappeared from Sasuke's realm, and Sakura absorbed and recorded their memories._

 _*As you'll see in the next chapter, while Tenten, Sasuke, Neji, and a Naruto clone are stationed at this point, everyone else is stationed along the different places Sakura saw/tracked the Gate, just in case any of them got displaced by the Gate, or the Gate moved. Naruto is actually at Sasuke's house in Sage mode with Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru. They are serving as a sort of command central. Ino is in Sakura's chair, and Naruto is essentially the 'radio' between all of them. Hinata is there to get anyone at any time, as well as to keep an eye on her cousin and the others._


	19. Deploy

notes

* * *

 **At Death's Door**  
 **19\. Deploy**

* * *

The Echoes shoot down the banks of the River, manifesting at every point Sakura had said they would.

Kiba's nose twitches.

"We sure that's not them," he nods to the Sasuke and Tenten approaching the Gate that appeared only moments before.

"We are sure," Shino intones. "Why? That is because it has already been reported that they made it to the Gate."

"Yeah, but do we know that they got through?" Kiba peers at them, looking for discrepancies. "That Gate could've dumped them anywhere."

"Hinata's cousin, Neji, says that he sees them beyond the Gate and not downriver. That is not a mistake he would make."

"Hmph," Kiba leans back against the tree, looking up through the heavy canopy. "Well, if Hinata thinks everything is alright, then it probably is."

Shino gives a single, solemn nod while Kiba looks up the tree.

"See anything?"

"Nope," Naruto calls down. "Everything is alright on our end."

"You'd better dispel and let the original know what happened," Kiba nods to where the projection of Tenten and Sasuke enter the Gate.

"Alright," he jumps down. "I'll be back – or, well, another one of me will." He gives a cheeky grin and disappears.

* * *

"So, is this girl related to you, too?" Hana asks, stroking the ears of one of her enormous dogs.

"Yeah, actually," he grins. "Mikoto and my mom are cousins on their mom's sides. It's all so distant that we're all related to about the same degree. Once Aunt Mikoto gets it in her head that you are family, though, it's pretty much a done deal."

"So I gather," Hana snorts. "Tsume is the same way. You should've seen when Tamaki first came along. For a second I thought mom would disown Kiba and take her on instead. Cats and all."

"Yeah, that's one I'll never get," Shisui's eyes spin to crimson and black. "Incoming."

The fake Gate had materialized about ten minutes ago in a nearby clearing. Shortly therafter, Tenten and Sasuke appeared, examining it before crossing in. Now, they were appearing again – an illusion on loop.

"Are they affected by that?" Hana nods to the pair.

"No," Shisui shakes his head. "It's just residual distortion magic. It's actually a good sign – it means they got to the real gate. Any word from base?" he calls over to Naruto.

"Nope," he shrugs. "Or at least no word of anything wrong. Neji confirmed they got through and are exploring the other side of the gate. I'll let them know that illusions started showing up here and then another one of us will be back."

He dispels and Hana shudders.

"Can you imagine all of those Narutos in one place?"

"Chaos," Shisui says sagely. "But it would be really cheerful chaos."

"And really orange."

"And really loud."

Hana shakes her head and Shisui shrugs before offering.

"Still – no matter how many copies – there's only one Naruto."

Hana agrees, and Shisiu grins, and neither has to add "Thank goodness."

* * *

Itachi joins Neji who is sitting calmly, watching the Gate with his Byakugan. The Uchiha's eyes can't get to his brother, but he has a preternatural sense of when his brother needs help. The only one better at that is currently sitting in Sasuke's home, monitoring the situation with Ino and Hinata.

He looks over to the Huyga.

"Are they alright?"

"So far."

The men have a strange understanding of one another, and always have. Where Neji and Sasuke always butted heads, Itachi and Neji were oddly compatible. Perhaps it was their mutual care for a younger sibling (or in Neji's case, cousin) or their ties to ANBU (technically Itachi was retired, but his mask was always waiting for him), or even their reputations – whatever the reason, they were, for lack of a better word, friends.

"I can't see too much of their surroundings," Neji furrows his brow. "For that matter, if Sasuke gets too far from Tenten, I won't be able to monitor him as well."

"I forgot to tell you," Naruto's clone sits up from where he has been lying in the grass. "If something happens and you lose sight of Tem….Sasuke, you're supposed to send me for me right away."

"Do I get to forcibly dispel you?" Neji mutters. "Because that would make me feel better."

Naruto crosses his arms and pouts while Itachi hides a smile.

"We could do Janken for it," Itachi suggests.

"Itachi!" Naruto sputters. "You can't take his side! He doesn't even _like_ Sasuke!"

Neji sits upright, back ramrod straight as if listening.

He holds up a fist without turning around, and Itachi does the same.

They goes through a complicated series of hand signs that end with Itachi giving a small smirk.

Naruto looks between them, baffled.

"Weasel catches snake," he shrugs, and he catches Naruto's eyes in a Sharingan gaze. Naruto goes slack jawed before dispelling.

* * *

From his place in Sasuke's home, Naruto absorbs the message Itachi won the right to send.

"Hinata – did we hear from everyone?"

"We just heard from the last two," she nods. "Jiraiya is on Chiyo's main island with Gaara, and they've stabilized it for now. Shikamaru says that Chiyo and the others are ready to help in any way that they can."

"Alright," he stands up. "They lost sight of Sasuke – I'm going to Itachi and Neji. Ino," he turns to the woman sitting in Sakura's chair, "keep focusing on Sakura, okay? We're going to bring her home."

She nods her agreement, not wanting to break her concentration.

Naruto takes a moment to kiss Hinata goodbye. "I believe in you," she tells him, wrapping slender arms around his neck. "We'll see you – all of you – when you get back."

"Believe it," he kisses her head, and then he is gone.

* * *

"That's the last of them," Tenten says, slicing through the chattering shells of puppets that had assaulted them. She gives Sasuke a half smile. "At least we know we're in the right place."

"Hn," Sasuke blinks as his Sharingan spirals back to black.

She takes a flask from some concealed point on her person and takes a hearty swig. The thin line at the top of her arm and another across her cheek bleed black as the poison leeches out of her skin.

"Come here," she waves him over. She pours the water over the injury on his forearm until the water leaves clear. "Anywhere else?"

"No," he feels his skin knit back together. "Don't waste your water on me."

"There's a helluva lot more in here than it looks like," she swishes it back and forth. "Special seals make it almost bottomless."

Sasuke arches an eyebrow and holds out the one Neji had given him.

"This one as well?"

"Sure," she nods. "That is the one that I gave Neji. How did you get it?"

"He didn't want you to use yours up."

"Maybe that's what he told you," she tucks hers away. "Probably didn't want to say he was helping you. So," She looks around the ground littered with the defeated puppets. "Looks like we broke all of the toys – but where is the puppet master?"

"Must be beyond there," he nods to the stone wall broken only by a large iron gate, identical to the Gateway.

Sasuke leads the way, reaching out to push the gate, and surprised when it swings back with a groan of protest.

He had been expecting a Garden – something lush and green and alive.

They are met with a Garden – but it is brown and dried and if not dead, dying.

"Sasuke," she points to the small stream winding through the Garden. "Look."

He sets his jaw in a hard line.

Something ink-black curls in the water – dense and heavy and unfurling in measured roils of ink and ebony.

"Poison," Sasuke surmises. He looks around, and spots the small willow just near the gate.

"Wait there for me," he points. "The poison can't affect me, and the willow should afford you some protection. I will investigate and come back for you if I need help."

She looks between the tree and the expanse beyond the water and shakes her head.

"This place isn't stable, and we have no idea what we're up against. No way am I letting you go find out alone."

"Stay and be my backup, and my connection to the others. I trust you to have my back."

"And I should just let you go off and potentially get yourself killed?"

"Death is harder to kill than a Halfling."

She might snort at that.

"It is what makes sense, Tenten," her name draws her eyes to his. "We don't have time to argue...Please."

"Fine," she finally looks away with a huff of frustration, and eyes the surroundings to calculate the risks. "But you know if you get too far from me, Neji will lose sight of you. And if Neji loses sight of you,…"

"The Dobe will probably come barreling in, and make a mess of everything," he finishes. "I'll hurry."

"Take this with you," she frees the dagger from her leg and hands it to him. "Amphitrite. A rare material from the river forged with Dragon Fire. It should hold power here."

He accepts the weapon, tucking it at his waist.

"I'll come if you need me," she holds up her wrist and nods to the dagger. "I'll know."

"Understood."

She puts a hand on his arm and meets his eyes with purpose.

"Be careful, Cousin," and she speaks as a friend and a relative and a fellow warrior.

And he knows she isn't offended when he simply says,

"Hn."

He leaves her in the shade of a small willow and crosses over the stream to follow the quickening pulse in his ears and the pull in his chest.

Intuitively, he knows he must go to the center of the Garden – that all of the answers will be there.

Still, nothing can quite prepare him for what he sees when he finally crests the hill to set eyes on the heart of the Garden.

The enormous willow dominating the Garden's center is the one from Sakura's dream – but instead of the heavy canopy of green and the expanses of live grass and blue sky, the leaves are yellow and limp, and the grass sun-scorched and browned. Even the sky is an indifferent color with a sun too intense to be nurturing.

The wind is dry and hot and he is reminded of the desert Island where he had met with Gaara.

 _"The Gate tried to disorient Sakura – to convince her that she wasn't a Waterborn, that she didn't need to return, that there was no danger…but her consciousness wouldn't accept that," Gaara spoke in a low voice. "She would meditate and drift, but always come back. I served as her anchor," he flicked a glance to Sasuke, "but eventually her consciousness established a second anchor; a way to make sure that when she was displaced, it was always to the same place and with the same people."_

 _"With me," Sasuke said bluntly._

 _Gaara just lifted a shoulder._

 _"She has the ability to compartmentalize; she laughingly talked to me about "Inner Sakura," but I think she found a way to use that dimension of her mental capacity to her advantage."_

 _Later, when it was just Gaara and Sasuke, the man had eyed him before speaking reluctantly._

 _"She spoke of you."_

 _He didn't reply, but they both knew he was listening intently._

 _"Her clones usually arrived back here intact, and would record their time. Sometimes Sakura was away when they returned, so they would speak with me. If they didn't finish their reports, Sakura would when they dispelled. Toward the end the clones were weaker – as was she. They almost never came back intact; they dispelled on their way back. She would stumble with whatever she was doing as their memories assimilated with hers."_

 _Gaara looked to the huge expanse of the starry sky._

 _"Growing the enchantment to hold the Gate in place was also taking a toll on her; that kind of enchantment requires tremendous concentration and an extreme purity of magic, and Sasori's poison was still affecting her. It was starting to affect the island," he admitted. "It was difficult to keep Shukaku at bay," he grimaced. "But she helped me. She helped me… and she dreamed of you."_

 _Gaara pinned him with a heavy look._

 _"I can never repay her… and I can never have her. But I will do all that I can to save her and see her happy."_

 _"Then… we are in agreement," Sasuke said quietly. "I will not rest until she is home."_

 _"See that you don't," Gaara said cryptically. He left shortly thereafter having nothing left to say, leaving Sasuke to stare at the glittering canopy of stars and wonder if she could see the same sky._

 _"In dreams," he murmured. "Perhaps I need to look there…."_

That was what spurred him on to hunt in the dreams – what made him find her. What brought him to the Garden the first time.

"Willow trees rejuvenate the Waterborn," he says to himself, ignoring the tightening in his throat. He reaches out with all that he is to try and connect with her.

His heart stops when the hot wind parts the rustling leaves to show the slightest hint of pink.

He is at her side in an instant.

She is sprawled at the base of the willow as if struck down midstride to collapse on her side in the dried leaves of grass. He kneels and gently gathers her in his arms, grimly noting the heavy streaks of white shot through her hair, although her face has not aged.

"She's dying."

He looks up sharply at the cool, distanced eyes of a young boy. His face registers no emotion, and his features are almost too pretty to be believed with wideset gray eyes and red hair.

"She can't mend my heart," he continues with a shrug. "No one can. So she will die here," he cocks his head to the side.

"And so will you."

* * *

 _So... I realized that Chapter 19 actually needed to be Chapter 20... which meant I had to write a new chapter 19. Not bad for two days work no?_ _One more chapter left, friends! Hope to see you tomorrow!_


	20. Resolve

_And here we are, friends - last chapter! The title is 'Resolve' both because of the resolution of the characters as well as the end of this story. I can't thank you enough for coming along on this whirlwind journey of twentysome days. I've never put out a story this fast, and certainly not with pretty much daily updates. Miracles do happen - and this one happened because of the response and encouragement. Thank you for reading, friends!_

* * *

 **At Death's Door**  
 **20\. Resolve**

* * *

Sasuke stares at the strange child who dares to suggest Sakura will die, his eyes spinning to black and crimson, and demands

"Who are you?"

"Doesn't matter," the child shrugs. "I already poisoned the water. Nothing anyone can do."

Sasuke narrows his eyes at him.

"You're Sasori."

He nods.

"Why are you still here?"

"I'm hard to kill," he answers with the casual tone of one commenting on the prospect of rainfall. "You should go before you get hurt. Everyone always gets hurt." His eyes rest on Sakura her with something that might be pity. "And then they die."

"She's not going to die," Sasuke's eyes snap fire.

"You don't understand anything," the boy mutters, kicking a pebble in the dried grass. "That's the problem with the living."

"Oh, I don't know," a voice drawls behind them. "When it comes to death, I'd say Sasuke has a pretty good handle on things."

Sasuke looks up to find Naruto – the real Naruto – leaning lazily against the trunk of the giant willow as if he had been there the whole time.

"Don't want to put a damper on your fun, but we've got a friend waiting for us back at the Garden gate with a ton of weapons and not so much patience. She told me to hurry and bring your ass back so we could all get home."

"You won't leave here," exasperation finally seeps into Sasori's voice. "Not alive, at least."

"Well aren't you just a little ball of sunshine," Naruto pushes off of the tree, standing in front of Sasuke and Sakura.

"She okay?"

He never takes his eyes off of Sasori, speaking over his shoulder.

"She's alive."

Two or three Narutos kneel to take her from him, and he turns her over, giving them Neji's flask and Tenten's dagger.

"Keep her in the shelter of the tree," he murmurs, standing shoulder to shoulder with Naruto.

"Sakura is alive, Sasori, and she is going to stay that way."

Sasori looks them over, his composure cracking.

"Neither of you understand," electricity begins to crackle in the dry air and there is a distant rumbling. "There is nothing – only death – for anything and anyone you care about!"

"I feel slighted," Naruto tips his head and looks at Sasuke. "Why do they always remember you and not me? Is it the dark brooding thing? Am I too cute?"

Sasuke makes some dismissive noise.

"Who in their right mind ever called you cute?"

Sasori doubles over and clutches his head, choking out sobs.

"Enough!" he cries, his voice far too heavy and redolent with grief for any child. "ENOUGH!" He stands and reaches for the sky, thousands of tendrils of magic shooting from his fingers. The earth rumbles again and specs dance on the horizon. They swarm to hover and assemble above them, fragments linking disjointedly into the eerie puppets that had attacked Sasuke and Tenten earlier. Except now, there are more of them.

Naruto does a quick count and looks to Sasuke. "One hundred?"

He lifts one shoulder. "Give or take."

Nartuo cracks his knuckles. "Guess I'd better even up the fight."

"What?" Sasuke unseals a sword and it dances in his fingers. "You're going to fight on his side?"

"Only if it looks like we are winning too quickly. Race you to one hundred!"

And suddenly there are no less than one hundred and one Narutos (counting the original but not counting the three by Sakura) poised and ready for battle.

They move, summer lightning and winter wind, tearing through the puppets one by one and ten by ten, obliterating them into nothing as Sasori desperately tries to keep up.

And when his puppets lay broken all around him, he clenches his hands at his side and shakes his head. "You don't understand – I can do this again and again – as many times as it takes."

The shattered pieces begin to shimmy and tremor on the ground, pulling into an assembled state one by one.

Sasori's hands glow brightly as Naruto makes a tch of disapproval.

"Determined little bastard, isn't he?"

"He could give you a run for your money."

"I was gonna say the same thing to you."

Sasori rears back, and the puppets gather in the sky while Naruto and Sasuke prepare to fight.

They don't know what they noticed first, his small, strangled cry or the beginnings clatters of fragments of puppet falling from the sky. He drops to his knees and clenches his shirt in his hand, right above his heart.

"No…! I have no… why can I…?"

He stares wide-eyed behind them, and for a second anger and despair contort his face into something truly grotesque.

" _You."_

Sasuke turns sharply, his heart in his throat. Sakura is breathing heavily, both hands wrapped around the hilt of the Amphitrite dagger, which has been plunged into what he can only assume is what is left of Sasori's heart.

Sasori tries to stand but stumbles, his breath ragged, his cheeks damp with tears.

"How? Why?"

She lifts her head wearily, a curtain of pink hair sliding back to reveal eyes glistening with tears.

"I am so sorry," her voice is a croaked whisper. "But it was the only way to save you."

"Save me?" he clutches at his chest while Sasuke kneels at her side.

"Yes," she places a hand on the tree. "And the others."

"Others?" Naruto and Sasuke exchange a look. "What others?"

She closes her eyes, and listens.

"It's not just poison," she murmurs. She reaches for Sasuke's hand and places it on the rough of the bark before covering it with her own. "Feel."

Sasuke takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. At first there is nothing but the cool of the green glow under his palms, but soon, something else rings at the edge of his senses.

Pain.

Sorrow.

Anguish.

"Souls," he murmurs.

"I told you," Sasori gasps wearily. "The others… they all died. I…I saved what I could."

"The puppets," Sakura whispers. "They were actual people," Sakura's fingers flex against the grain of the tree. "You weren't releasing the souls that came to your island, were you, Sasori," she looks at him.

"No. No, they were too broken. I saved them. I collected them. So they wouldn't be lonely."

"Like you?"

"Mother and Father left," tears run freely down his face, even if his voice holds little emotion. "They left me behind. It was the only way to keep them from leaving me again."

And suddenly she understands.

"You never meant to poison the River," she pieces it together. "You were trying to help them heal – the ones too broken… but you couldn't contain their grief.. could you?"

"It ate away at my body," the tears splatter on two small hands fisted on his knees. "I…I had to replace parts of myself bit by bit..., until that," he looks to the core of living flesh under her palm, "was all that was left."

Naruto's eyes grow wide.

"So that right there,"

"Is all that is left of him," Sakura whispers.

"Finish what you started," Sasori grits out, and his form shifts. He is older now. Older and worn. "What I started," he raises his head wearily. "End it."

He is beyond saving – that is something none of them disputes.

Sakura senses the dull throb of metal calling her, and she turns to the dagger piercing his core.

Tentatively, she puts her hands back on it, and closes her eyes. Sasuke is kneeling next to her, his hand on her back. Naruto stands beside her, his hand on her shoulder.

She breathes and concentrates – focusing on the Garden and the River and the Willow.

The metal of the dagger glows brightly with her magic and she feels it melding its magic to hers. It melts into a shimmering puddle that gurgles and bubbles.

It calls forth the River.

Water spills forth and she stands, coaxing it into a ribbon to trail the path of her fingers. Sasuke and Naruto step back and watch the shimmering flow defy gravity in a series of twists and turns.

"Go," she points to the tree, the diamond on her forehead glowing brightly. The water dances and laces about the tree, winding around the trunk and branches and bark and leaves.

She places glowing green palms on the wide trunk of the Great Willow.

"I draw strength from you, and you draw from me," she whispers. "Together we heal."

The tree begins to hum and the diamond on her forehead glows brighter still. "More," she murmurs, and closes her eyes. Black tendrils shoot from the diamond on her forehead to wind and weave over her body and connect with the lifeforce of the Willow.

And suddenly she is rooted in the oldest and deepest and purest of magic. The dancing water surges around her and through her and races from the tips of her fingers to wind through the xylem and phloem and into the roots, healing and rebuilding.

Naruto nudges Sasuke and nods to exposed roots of the tree.

For a second he doubts his own eyes, but there is no mistaking the the lone snowdrop blossoming at her feet, or the thick grass surrounding it.

The growing border of green bleeds toward them as the tree heals and reconnects with the River at its deepest and oldest roots. Green weaves down the canopy, and the vines of leaves begin to sway, the wind becoming less arid and something more alive.

"What…" Sasori stares at the soft, green grass beneath his hands, sitting back on his heels.

With something that might have been a growl and a muttered "Shannaroo!" Sakura redoubles her efforts, and there is an explosion of color. Magic surges across the Garden as the Willow reaches out with the River to heal the desolation and despair.

Sakura turns and points and the dancing waters swarm along the polluted streams and riverbeds, instantly restoring them to their pristine state.

Everything is healing – everything is alive.

With the Willow restored and the River purified, the Garden quickly knits itself together complete with blue skies and drifting clouds.

She doesn't even feel the strength leave her body, or the beginning of her collapse, for she never makes it any farther than Sasuke's side. He holds her with one arm, the other ready to draw his sword, should Sasori have revived.

He meets her eyes, and in that instant there is nothing in the whole of creation but her.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine," the lines winding around her recede, and although the streaks of white hair are gone, exhaustion is painted in broad strokes along the angles of her face and the lines of her frame.

Something finer than morning mist begins to drift from between the ridges and the rough of the tree. She nods to it.

"Help them."

Understanding, he lets her rest in the crook of the tree and hands her the flask Naruto's clone left behind. Reassured by the several deep gulps she takes at his insistence, he stands and motions Naruto forward.

Winding the mist between their fingers, they gently remove the souls absorbed by the Great Willow – now healed – and carry them to the clear stream. They return them to the River.

When the last has been returned, they flank Sakura, who is returns Sasuke's dagger before turning to the small boy standing just behind them.

Healed by the Garden, this is no longer the projection of Sasori; this is his soul.

Stepping over the twisted, aching mass that had been the core of his mortal being, Sakura holds out her hand to him.

"It's time to go, Sasori."

"There isn't anyone left… is there?"

"They've all gone home," She assures him. "They aren't in pain anymore."

"Where do I go?" he blinks great, wide eyes.

"The River will take you. Your journey will start over."

"Alone?"

"No," her smile is gentle. "There will always be others. Find them and be good to them."

She takes his hand and leads him to the stream where she kneels in front of him. "Safe journey, Sasori."

"Safe journey, Sakura." He throws his small arms around his neck, and pretends he isn't crying. She holds him tightly until he can step back on his own. She kisses his forehead and lets him slip into the water.

Behind them, the remnants of his past life crumble and turn to dust to be scattered harmlessly on the wind.

A warm hand rests on her shoulder and she covers it with her own. Looking up at Sasuke she gives him a weary smile.

"You found me."

"I said I would."

Her eyes sparkle. "Yes, I suppose you did."

He holds his hands out to her and helps her to her feet.

"Good to have you back, Sakura," Naruto smiles at her warmly.

"Where is your friend?"

Naruto tips his head, puzzled.

"My friend? You mean other than him?" he flicks a glance at Sasuke.

"Didn't you say you had a friend waiting at the gate?" she furrows her brow, "Or was that just to trick Sasori…?"

Naruto jolts.

"Oh, shit! Tenten!" He looks between them with something close to panic. "That enchantment of yours was amazing, Sakura, but we have no idea of how long it will last, and by now Neji is probably having an aneurysm, and-"

"Go back," Sasuke interrupts him. "You're faster. Send a clone to let them know everything is alright. I'll prepare Sakura while the two of you secure our route home."

"Right!" he drops his palm in his fist. "I'm on it. Good to have you back, Sakura!" he says brightly before running off.

"He really is like that," she mumbles to herself. "I thought I made all of that up…"

"No one can make up Naruto," Sasuke snorts.

Her smile is slow.

"I don't think anyone could make you up either, Sasuke. Who would ever dream that Death could be so kind and so bad at Mario Kart."

Genuine laughter bubbles out of her, and he finds he can't hold his scowl.

"Let's see how you fare now that you don't have distortion magic giving you the edge of mortal knowledge."

"Yes, because clearly I had an unfair advantage in the whole thing."

"Hn."

He surprises her when he wraps his arms around her and holds her to himself – but she understands the need to be sure that she – that they – are real.

"You came for me," she murmurs against his throat.

He allows only enough space to cradle her face in his hands, eyes locked with hers.

"Always, Sakura."

His name doesn't have time to escape her lips, so she breathes it against his as they brush against her own. She tastes of light and honey and life and spring, and he drinks her in like salvation. Her small and deceptively strong fingers wind in his hair, and their hearts beat with the same hunger and hope.

Sasuke steps back with curse, the dagger at his waist glowing with an impatient energy.

"We have to return," he tries to curb his agitation. "The others are waiting."

And she knows he doesn't mean Naruto and whoever came with them – she knows he means everyone she inadvertently left behind.

"It will be good to see them," she allows. "But I'm really looking forward to going home. I missed my chair."

Sasuke arches his eyebrow and pretends his heart isn't pounding in his throat.

"I mean, after missions or time healing souls it will be nice to sit in front of the fire and relax. Don't you think? We can even make you a chair..or, well.. I can, seeing as I made the first one."

"Sakura," he interrupts her, his smirk really more of a smile.

She smiles up at him, understanding.

"Let's go home, Sasuke."

"Hn."

And she winds her fingers in his, taking her place by his side.

And together

they are home.

* * *

 ** _~Fin~_**

* * *

 _Thank you for reading 'At Death's Door.' Aside from a potential epilogue, this story is done, and I so appreciate you coming with me on this one!_

 _With gratitude,  
\- Giada_


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